


Through the Eyes of a Child

by thecomebackkids99



Series: 2017 Summer Hiatus Fics [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: A child's perspective, Canon up to 5x23, F/M, Gen, He's going to have an awesome perspective on some of the team's issues, Including the team within the team's issues, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Team Arrow, William Queen is a precious child, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2018-11-05 19:12:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 38,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11019762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecomebackkids99/pseuds/thecomebackkids99
Summary: William's perspective of his dad's relationship with Felicity, 'Team Arrow', and maybe a girl named Zoe. But first, there's some heartbreak and pain, because this an Arrow fic after all.





	1. Loss

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everybody!!! I planned on doing this fic for a few weeks, and after the finale aired, I was sad that I couldn't write it. But, in a typical me move, I decided I was going to do it anyways. It's going to start off with some angst (please forgive me), but as the chapters progress, there will be less sadness and more adorableness.

It hadn’t registered. The words that the bad man had said. Adrian, right? He’d heard the yelling and screaming from outside in the boat, and Oliver had called him Adrian.

His dad.

Who wouldn’t let go of him, even after they watched everything blow up. Not everything, but there wasn’t any way that someone could survive that, right? Which meant…He looked up at him, watching the man who was apparently his dad. His eyes hadn’t left the remnants of the island, even though his arms still kept him firmly encased against his body. “Uh…” What was he supposed to call him? Oliver? Dad? Sir? Maybe ‘GA’ would work. But his mumbling got his attention.

“Y-Y…yeah?” He cleared his throat and loosened his grip on him. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

“My mom…” Oliver’s reaction told him everything he needed to know, but it wasn’t just that. Pain washed over his face, and a tear fell down his cheek. “She’s gone?”

“I-I…” his eyes shifted around the boat before coming back to him. “William, I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. They might’ve…”

The broken answer stopped his questions. Even the bigger ones. According to Adrian, there would be plenty of time for that. Who’d shot himself. In the head, because he wanted to prove some kind of point. That’s what he’d told him the past week or so. Or maybe it’d been more than a week. He’d lost count after he and his mom had been separated. Too much time in a dark cell did that to a person, apparently.

“Uh, William, I’m going to, uh, put the body in the sea. Then we’re gonna go back to the island. There’s a chance they’re still alive.”

“Who else is on there?”

“My family. Or,” he smiled a little, “the rest of them. There’s a lot of people there. We’re gonna get them back.” He couldn’t exactly say if this was the normal Oliver Queen, but the confidence that he’d assume was the Green Arrow persona was back. Or it appeared. He didn’t know anything about this.

He just wanted to hug his mom.

She always told him that she’d always be there for him. Rain or shine. Even was he was grumpy. What if something happened to her? He didn’t have many friends. Or family. There wasn’t anyone.

Except for the guy who’d saved his life.

Who was apparently his dad.

“Just close your eyes for a few seconds, okay?” Oliver let go of him, and moved towards the body. William squeezed his eyes shut and waited until there was a splash before he opened them again.

“Is he gone?”

“Yeah. He’s gone. Now we can head back to the island.”

“What’s the name of it?” He tried to inconspicuously move towards him, but when Oliver caught the movement, he just stepped over next to him. He didn’t want to be by himself, even if it was just a few feet. In movies, the bad guy came back to life. What if that happened?

“Lian Yu.” Oliver sniffed and drew his hand over his eyes. William watched him maneuver the boat towards the destroyed island. Of course the Green Arrow knew how to drive a boat. He knew how to do a lot of things. If it wasn’t for the terror that gripped him, he would grin. His dad was the _Green_ _Arrow_. How cool was that? No one else got to say that. Unless the Flash had a kid. But he didn’t seem like someone who would.

But maybe this guy hadn’t seemed like one either. Clearly, because William was almost twelve. How long had he known about him? He cared about him a lot so maybe it had been longer than he wished it were.

“Hey, buddy?”

“If you’re gonna say that I should stay here, I’m not. I don’t want to be alone.”

“O-Okay. But there might be…”

“It’d be better than being here alone.”

Oliver’s face crumbled, and he reached for the edge of the boat. He stared at the ground, his shoulders slumped forward. William stayed close, but he didn’t know what to say. _Was_ he supposed to say something? It wasn’t like he could help much. His mom might be dead. But maybe…maybe all of his dad’s family was on the island. Maybe they were all dead too. And then Adrian would be correct when he said that it was just the two of them.

“Sorry.” He took a deep breath and stood up. “It’s been a…”

“A really long day?”

“Yeah.” There was a little, humorless laugh that came with it, but his face went serious. “Okay, let’s go. There’s a couple places they could be, so we’ll look there first.” Oliver opened the cabin door and peeked inside. He reached in and pulled out a backpack. “Do you think you can carry this for me?”

He didn’t look that little, did he? William slung the backpack over his shoulders and buckled the straps. “Anything else you need me to carry? Cuz I can do that if you need help.”

“We just need that in case, because there’s a couple bottles of water and some food.” Oliver grabbed the edge of the dock and pulled the boat towards it, but glanced back at him. “There’s a few people who don’t like either of us, so I need my hands.”

 _Oh_. Why were people constantly trying to kill them? And him? He was tired of this. Couldn’t they call the Flash? Maybe he could find his mom and Oliver’s family. Which consisted of who? He almost asked, but his dad hopped out of the boat and helped him onto the dock. “You all good with walking a bit?”

“If it means finding my mom, then yeah. She’s okay, right? She’s gonna be okay?”

“Y-Yeah. She’s gonna be fine.”

But it wasn’t convincing. At all. William took a deep breath that stuttered. Oliver looked back at him, and stopped.

“Hey.”

“I’m fine.”

A sad smile lit his dirty face. “I have a lot of experience in that field. You don’t need to be fine. Or tough.”

“You’re tough.”

“Just because I’m the Green Arrow doesn’t make me tough. It’s okay to get upset. It’s what makes us human. Bottling up emotions does us no good. Trust me. I’d know.”

William squeezed his eyes shut, trying to force the tears back. He didn’t want to cry right now. There was too much going on; if he cried, Oliver would stop searching, and something or someone could die. He didn’t want to be responsible for something happening, so he shook his head and opened his eyes. “I just want to find my mom.”

“We’re gonna find her. And Felicity.”

“Felicity?”

“She’s my…” they started walking again, and he had to almost run to keep up with him. William watched Oliver’s face, as it brightened for a second. “I don’t really know what we are."

“Are you going to marry her?”

Oliver stopped again, and stared at him, his forehead crinkled. After a few seconds, he shook his head. “And I thought Curtis was bad.”

“Well?”

“I don’t know. We’ll see. First, we need to find—”

“What’s wrong?” William reached for him. He needed to have something to hold onto. At least his dad was the Green Arrow. He could save them. But could he save everyone else? Felicity? His mom? “Is someone…?”

“Just stay close. We’re close to the bunker that Slade could’ve taken them too.”

“Who’s Slade?” Asking questions kept his mind of things, and he didn’t care if he was being annoying or not. Oliver would want to get to know his son, right? Maybe? And he could get an idea if he kept talking.

“He’s a friend.”

“Is everybody here your friend? Besides Adrian?”

“No. There’s a lot of people here who tried to kill me before.”

He didn’t ask anything else, because Oliver stopped at the edge of a cliff and stared down. “What’s down there?” So much for not asking questions.

“That is the first option as to where they could be. Come on.” He hopped down himself before reaching up and lifting William down next to him. He seemed jittery, moving at an oddly slow pace.

To make sure he kept up with him.

“Hey…you can go on ahead to check.”

Oliver slowed down even more to give him a hard look. “Are you sure?”

“I can see you. Plus, I ran track. I can run fast.”

With a nod, he took off running towards a higher part of the beach. William followed, watching his footing to avoid falling. That’s the last thing they needed. More injuries. The entire island was bombed. People were bound to be injured, right? _Please, God. Keep Mom safe._ What was he supposed to do if she got hurt? Or worse? The idea caused tears to well up in his eyes as he ran, sending him stumbling. “I’m fine! Keep going!”

Oliver pulled back something that resembled a door. In the ground. “ _Felicity_? _Thea_!”

Someone yelled. A woman. It had to be Felicity, because his dad collapsed to the ground and let out a cry. There was more yelling, and a woman appeared. A blonde lady with a bloody face who threw her arms around Oliver’s neck, nearly knocking him over. Someone else came out of the whole, a girl who looked like his dad.

Where was his mom?

“Where’s Mom?” He got up next to them, and stared down at Oliver, his frustration boiling into anger as he didn’t get an answer. Only a look. One that he’d seen when his mom told him that his grandma was dead. _No_. Everyone else made it, right? She made it too. Of course she made it. That’s what she always promised him. No matter what, she’d be there. “Where. Is. My. _Mom_?

“William…”

“No!” He yanked his arm away and stepped backwards. “Mom should be here! Where is she?”

Oliver glanced at Felicity, who lowered her gaze. William took another step back, keeping himself out of arm’s reach. “Where’s Mom?” His words caught on his tears in his throat. “Where’s my mom?”

“You have to listen to me, okay?”

“ _No_! She’s not dead!”

Felicity stepped towards him, her hand outstretched. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she caught his arm and pulled him towards her. “I’m so sorry, William. Your mom…she couldn’t leave you. She didn’t want you to be alone, so she…she’s gone, honey. She’s gone.”

He let out a sob and sank against her, burying his head in her dirty jacket. It didn’t matter if he barely knew who she was, except for the fact that his dad loved her. _Nothing_ mattered anymore.

He’d never get a goodnight hug from his mom again.

Or a good morning kiss.

She’d never pick him up from track or hockey practice with a little extra money to spend at the theaters.

He’d never have a _mom_ again.

At some point, someone else’s arms came around him. His dad’s. Only one person was wearing a leather suit.

And only one person could make him feel just a little better. Like maybe, in a long time, it would all be okay.

His legs were going numb. Everything was. All he could picture was his mom’s body. All because she needed him to be safe. Didn’t she ever stop to think about him? How he needed her to be safe? _He_ needed _her_ , just as much as she needed him. “How…” he tried to take a deep breath but it came out as a sob instead. “How am I supposed to…live without my mom?”

“I don’t know, Son.” His dad’s voice cracked as his arms tightened around him. “It’s something that I haven’t figured out yet.”

“I-I…I can’t live without her.”

“I know, buddy. I know.”

He didn’t really remember what happened next. Only that they got on a plane and ended back at a place that someone called ‘the Loft’. He didn’t care. The pain encasing his heart masked him from the feeling of a soft bed for the first time in over a week, and the fleece blankets on top of him. It should’ve been nice, but instead, he burrowed underneath the covers and sobbed. His dad slept on the floor next to the bed, though he doubted he actually slept. No one did.

And he honestly didn’t know if he could ever sleep normally again.


	2. Nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because the response has been great and a lot of people asked for another chapter...here you go!!!

He woke up for what seemed like the thousandth time in a row, screaming about his mom. And explosions. Adrian, threatening to kill him. Tonight, he’d killed his dad and Felicity, but he woke up just before the bombs went off. It didn’t help the terror, though. Maybe even made it worse, because now the three people who cared about him were dead.

“Hey, hey!” The door flew open and Oliver ran in. He sank to the edge of the bed, his hand outstretched towards him. “It’s okay, buddy. It’s okay. Take a deep breath, okay? Breathe in through your nose.”  

William squeezed his eyes shut and sucked in a shaky breath. He’d learned a lot about this the past two weeks. He’d had a few nightmares after what happened last year, but nothing like this. These dreams made breathing difficult, and they always brought someone into his room. Probably because both his dad and his ‘something’ had good ears. Tonight, he rolled to his side and pulled his knees to his chest. Maybe his old sleeping position would, by some miracle, make the pain go away. Or at least a little bit of it.

“Would you like to talk about it?” He got asked that every night. And every night, William said no.

Tonight was no different.

Except Oliver didn’t stay quiet.

“I have nightmares a lot too.”

Did he really have to hear this right now?

“Sometimes they’re about people I’ve lost. My dad. My mom. A lot of my friends. Sometimes they’re about me being unable to do something or stop someone from doing something. Either way, I’ve thrown Felicity out of bed several times and no matter how many times they’ve happened, they’re still scary.”

He didn’t want to talk about this right now. Maybe if Oliver went back in time and saved his mom, they could, but why talk about it? He was practically an orphan with a dad he barely knew. Who loved him a lot, and that was something he was happy and thankful for, but he’d been here for two weeks, and _breathing_ still hurt. “I don’t really wanna talk about anything right now.”

“I know, William. And I understand what you went through.”

“You really don’t.”

The nightlight gave him a good view of the sad smile on his dad’s face. “I do, and someday, I’ll tell you about all that. But it’s not something you need to hear about right now. What you do need to know is that it helps to talk about it. I spent years hiding my feelings and issues from everyone, and it created a lot of problems. Take it from me and don’t do that. It hurts, but it helps.”

“Oliver?” Felicity stepped in the room, wrapped in a blanket. She walked to the bed and put her hand on Oliver’s shoulder. Something was communicated between a long look—how they did that, he didn’t know—and then she titled her head to the open door.

Oliver cleared his throat. “Hey, William, do you wanna go get some ice cream?”

“It’s two in the morning.”

“I know, but I know where to get some good stuff.” Oliver got off the bed and beckoned to the door. “C’mon. There’s nothing like a midnight run to the grocery store.”

This was crazy. Since when did anybody do this? But his dad wasn’t budging, so he tossed back the covers and reached for the jacket on the ground. Something in him lightened a bit, and the sounds and scenes from the nightmare faded away at the idea of doing something crazy with his dad. “We better not actually have to run though.”

“And you’re not taking the bike either!” Felicity yelled at them as they descended the stairs. “He is way too young for that!”

“Don’t worry, honey, we won’t.” Oliver winked at William and pushed him out the front door. “We actually aren’t, because for one, I won’t ever escape her wrath about that, and two, I only have my Green Arrow bike here, and that wouldn’t be great to ride around.”

“Because not many people know you’re him, right?”

“More people than I’d like to admit, but most of them are friends and family.”

He’d met a lot of them. At the funeral. Though most of their names just blended together into a bunch of people who were sad for him. He didn’t really remember much of the past weeks. Lots of crying, and being angry. It was hard to do anything else except think about his mom.

But maybe for a few minutes, he could think about something else.

“What kind of ice cream do you like?”

“Really anything.”

Oliver shot him a look. “Oh, c’mon, bud. Everyone has a favorite ice cream. Even I do.”

“Okay, fine. Mint chip. Mom used to hate it, because apparently it has a weird taste, but…”

“Felicity can eat an entire thing of it, so we can get that. You might have to arm wrestle her for it, though.”

“Could I pay her off?”

Oliver let out a laugh. “No, she’s richer than I am, so I doubt you could do that.”

“How is she richer than you?”

“Because she is a lot smarter than I am.”

“I can see that.”

“ _Hey_!”

William grinned and bounced in his seat a couple times at the sight of his dad’s face. Hurt. It almost looked real, except for the tiny smile that threatened to break into a laugh at any moment. “Hear me out for a second, though. She tells you who to go beat up, and you go and beat them up. It’s clear who’s the smart one.”

“Very true.” He nodded, and went silent for a few moments, before he looked at William in the passenger seat. “How’d you get so smart?”

“My mom maybe? But I’m eleven. I’ll be twelve in a few months.” He tried to ignore the rush of pain as he realized that his mom wouldn’t be here to celebrate his birthday. Ever again. “I’m not a little kid.”

“I’ve put that one together.”

They rode in silence the rest of the way to Walmart. As he stepped out, William caught Oliver sliding a gun inside his jacket. It should’ve been a repulsive idea to him, but with a gun and his dad next to him, he would stay safe.

Maybe this was his life now.

A year and a half ago, he liked playing with the Flash and Captain Cold and flying kites. Then a man named Malcolm Merlyn took him to a house with a nice girl who liked action figures as well. It hadn’t been too scary until afterwards, when his mom explained to him that he was Matthew now, not William. It was like he didn’t realize the danger that they were in until then. But she never explained why. Only that it was probably because of an old friend who had a tendency to get angry. Which, thinking about it now, was a big lie.

But he’d started living as Matthew and it wasn’t too bad. His Green Arrow action figure still sat on its special shelf, but now it was different. The man – whoever he was – had saved his life. He still played with him every now and then, but he couldn’t get himself into it. Not when everything seemed so much more real.

And now he knew why that man saved him. Granted, he would’ve saved anybody, but he did everything he could to get him home, and that guy turned out to be his dad.

He didn’t want to play with that action figure anymore.

The Green Arrow was a person.

Along with the Flash, and even the bad guys. They lost people, and they cried. A lot. And sometimes they had nightmares.

Just like normal people.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?”

William shook himself out of his trance and looked up at Oliver. “Nothin’.”

“You know you can talk to me, right? I know I haven’t been in your life but—”

“I know. But I’m thinking about you right now, and you probably wouldn’t want to talk about that.”

“I’m okay talking about myself.”

“Okay. Then what happened to your mom?”

Oliver sighed.

“You don’t have to tell me exactly what happened, but I just want to know. Please?”

“She was, uh, murdered. By a man named Slade Wilson. And yes, that’s all you’re going to get.”

Which he was perfectly fine with if he didn’t know that Slade Wilson was on the island. According to the conversation he overheard on the way home, that man died trying to protect his mom. Was anything about anything uncomplicated? “Didn’t he…?”

“We’ll save that conversation for a later time. For now, ice cream.” Oliver opened the freezer doors and pulled out two things of mint chip, put them in William’s arms, and turned back for more.

“Are you sure we need more than two?”

“Do you doubt me?”

“A little bit.”

Oliver chuckled and pulled out two more tubs of ice cream. “Eventually the team will come back from a much-needed break, and they’ll all be happy that they have this to eat. Because most of them can’t cook.”

“Felicity’s a good cook, though.”

His dad’s eyebrows shot up. “Where’d you get that idea?”

“The food…I don’t really remember much but the food has been really good.”

“That’s actually been me cooking.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah,” the word came out in a laugh as they walked towards the checkout. “That was me.”

“I didn’t know you could cook.” _Duh_. It wasn’t like he knew him much before this week. Oliver had come a lot last year, but they’d always played action figures and a few video games. He was super good at that, but it never crossed his mind that that food wasn’t Felicity’s handy work. Which led to a bigger question. “So…can she cook at all?”

“No.”

“That’s kind of a definite answer.”

“Well, she’s hopeless, so…”

 

Half an hour later, Oliver set three bowls of ice cream on the table and sat down next to Felicity, who still wore a blanket around her shoulders. William reached for the spoon but stopped when she cleared her throat.

“Honey, do you think that’s enough ice cream?” The words were laced with sarcasm.

Oliver leaned forward to look at William’s bowl and shrugged. “I was about to put more in there.”

Felicity narrowed her eyes.

“I’m kidding. I promise I will never serve that much dessert again. But it’s a special occasion, so we’re having extra. Plus, all of us need to eat more.”

It wasn’t like he’d eaten much lately. William nodded in agreement and started eating. When Felicity still didn’t look convinced, he raised his spoon. “I need it.”

“See? He agrees.”

 

It was three-thirty when they finished their ‘food’. William stared at the stairs leading to his makeshift bedroom, his stomach knotting. He didn’t wanna go back up there. That’s where pain happened and where his mom died every night. He glanced at Oliver, who was watching him from the kitchen. “I’m not really…I’m not really tired.”

“I assumed you’d say that. Thankfully, I’m what Felicity calls a ‘night owl’, so I’ll stay down here with you. We could watch a movie.”

“It has to be something that isn’t scary.”

“Well, thankfully,” he flipped on the TV and clicked on Netflix, “Curtis doesn’t like anything that isn’t sappy or a children’s movie, so we have plenty of options.” He glanced at him, questions in his eyes. “I-I don’t really know what kids your age like to watch. You can pick.”

“ _Despicable_ _Me_?”

“What is that?”

“You’ve never watched that one?”

“I-I’ve…never really had a kid before.”

“Well, we gotta watch it. C’mon.” He hopped onto the couch and pulled the blanket over his lap. Oliver took a seat next to him and set his feet on the coffee table. As the movie progressed, William looked up at his dad who was staring at the TV screen, but, at least from his deadpan face,  not actually watching the movie. “Hey, about that nightmare tonight?”

“What about it? “

“It’s not just about this one. All of them have been about Adrian and my mom dying. But tonight, he killed you and Felicity too. He broke your necks.”

Oliver flashed him a sad smile. “Thanks for telling me.”

“I miss her a lot, Oliver.” He didn’t want to cry during one of his favorite movies, but he couldn’t stop himself like some people. “I miss her so much.”

“I know, buddy. It gets easier, though. I promise.”

He sat there, tears running down his face, trying to put himself back together. But his dad clearly had. Several times, actually. His mom _and_ dad died, and some friends. Who knew how many there were? So he knew how to somehow be okay again. “What do you do?”

“When life really, _really_ sucks?”

“Yeah.”

Oliver shrugged, his eyes wandering to the photos on the counter. William had looked at them a few times. One was of his dad and Thea, another one of Oliver and the guy named Dig at a wedding. But the best one was the one of him and Felicity. Clearly she was there for him the most when life really sucked. “I guess…it takes a while to figure everything out. It’s not always easy, but there’s some happy times. The trick is to go straight to the people you love the most because they can help. And William, I’m sorry if you don’t get that—”

“No, you have.” If there was anything he needed to say, it was that. “And I’m glad that I’m here.”

That made him smile. Oliver shifted on the couch and gestured to the TV. “Wanna finish the movie?”

When he woke up several hours later, wrapped in a cocoon of blankets with the coffee table pushed up against the couch so he wouldn’t fall off, he closed his eyes again and smiled. Just a little bit. Because this was the first time since Adrian kidnapped him that he woke up without a nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm taking prompts for this story, so if you'd like to see Oliver and William do something together, etc., either comment or send me what you'd like on Tumblr! I'm lovejesusarrowavengers on there. :)


	3. Felicity Smoak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of people requested a chapter of William and Felicity, so here we go!

“Okay, I’m late for my first day back, so I’ll see you both later.” Oliver ran into the kitchen, carrying his briefcase and dress jacket under one arm. William ducked his head to avoid the kiss that that exchanged by the stove, but waved when his dad said goodbye. When the door slammed behind him, Felicity turned around and smiled. “Guess it’s gonna be just me and you today, eh?”

That scared him a bit. Only because he hadn’t spent much time with her yet. Alone, anyways. William flashed her a smile. “I guess so. We aren’t gonna cook, though, right? Cuz Oliver told me that you’re not a good cook.”

She crinkled her nose and laughed. “I wish I could say he’s wrong. But he’s not. I can cook some really good macaroni, though. We’ll have that for lunch, because Oliver would throw a fit if he found out we’re having stuff from a box.” The last few words were sarcastic, but she smiled. “We can do whatever you want, but I would like to talk to you about something first.”

“Am I in trouble?”

“No! Definitely not. Did that come out like you were?”

“Kind of.”

“Sorry, sweetie.” She winced and took a couple steps backwards. “Obviously, I’m not very good at this. I’ve never really had a kid before. Not that you’re my kid. You’re Oliver’s son. There’s no doubt about that. And I’m just along for the ride. But…I’m going to stop talking now.”

He didn’t really know what to think. Or say. All he could do was stare at her.

“Well, at least I now know you look like your dad when I babble.” She took a deep breath. “Sorry. I’m going to try not to do that for a few minutes.”

He’d kind of assumed that there was more to Felicity than he’d gotten the past couple weeks, mostly because she often had something to do. And because he liked hiding in his bedroom to avoid talking to people. But after the ice cream run two days ago, he wanted to do something with his life. The idea sounded way too adult to him, but he didn’t have many friends, let alone friends his age. After a bit, he was bound to end up thinking like a grown-up.

Which was a little scary.

“Uh…William?”

He looked up at Felicity, who had a horrified expression on her face. “Yeah?”

“I didn’t…I didn’t scare you, did I?”

“Damien Darhk and Adrian Chase tried to kill me. You talking really fast isn’t gonna scare me.”

She giggled, but then sobered again, her eyes turning misty. “I honestly don’t know much about being a parent. In any form. Oliver doesn’t either. I honestly think we should probably get a manual that says ‘parenting for dummies’. Y-You might not know this, actually, of course you don’t know this, but Oliver and I didn’t have good examples when we were growing up. But we’re gonna try this. And probably fail a hundred times over. But can you give us a shot?”

This time he did know what to say to her babbling. More like what to do. He nodded, and then smiled.

It seemed good enough for the blonde-haired lady that had his dad wrapped around her finger. She reached for her phone and leaned against the counter. “So I was checking with your school, and your principal said you never finished. Obviously.”

“ _No_.”

“You don’t even know what I was gonna say.”

“Either way, no.” He hated school. With passion. Maybe he got that from his dad, who’d moaned and groaned last night about doing something involving numbers for the office. Felicity had finally shut him up by taking the computer and doing it herself. “School’s out for everybody now.”

“But you technically didn’t finish school, buddy. So before you go all ‘grrr’ on me, here’s my proposal.”

If he wasn’t throwing up in his mouth over the thought of finishing school, he would’ve laughed at her motions with her hands at the ‘grrr’ part. _Be nice_. She’d been gracious enough to talk to him about it—did his dad make her do this because he didn’t want to talk to him about school?—so he owed her his obedience. For now, at least. Unless she gave him a strange option. “Okay, go ahead.”

“Wow, I was hoping that would be less grumpy. But oh well. Okay. Here’s my idea.” Felicity took a seat next to him and opened her phone to show him a document. “You have two weeks left of school. If we get that done, we can do one of two things. Go shopping at IKEA and get you a crazy amount of weird things, or we could go buy you one of those insane video game controllers that I don’t even know what they’re called, but Curtis talks about them sometimes. Deal?”

“I have one question.”

“Shoot.”

“Can we do both?”

Her eyebrows rose, and then she laughed. “Oh my. Thea’s gonna love you.”

“But can we?”

“How about this.” She puckered her lips and leaned forward, a ‘this is going to work for me either way’ look on her face. “You get the two weeks done in a week…we’ll do both. Maybe even more. Deal?”

“Deal.” He shook her hand and then gestured to the stove. “Your bacon in burning.”

“ _Frack_!”

 

After showering—because he was getting greasy hair, which couldn’t be more gross—he sat down at the table and stared at his computer from his house. The last time he’d done school, his mom helped him. She’d sat on the other end of the table, doing her own work for the office, listening to his whining about how much he hated doing homework. Whenever he didn’t want to continue, she would come to sit by him and tell him, “Honey, I promise this will be worth it in the long run.”

He didn’t want to do this.

“Felicity?”

She set the basket of clothes on the couch. “Yes?”

“I don’t want to do this. I-I…can’t.” Just looking at the computer hurt. What if he touched it? He’d heard about things causing flashbacks. It seemed like his dad had that happen to him every now and then. They’d watched movies a couple nights in a row, and during a couple parts, he’d started, and then Felicity gave him _the_ look.

He crossed his arms and sagged forward. “I-I’m sorry. But I just don’t want to.”

“I understand.” She looked past him to the computer. “But I have a question for you. Would you be okay doing school if it wasn’t on there?”

He needed to change the subject _right_ _now_. “Could I help you fold laundry?”

There was a pause, but she nodded and sat down on the couch. William took a seat on the coffee table and pulled out a t-shirt with stains on it. “Is this Oliver’s?”

“It’s Oliver’s but it’s mine. Assume that most of these shirts are his but I stole them all to sleep in.” Her head snapped up. “But you can’t tell him about that.”

“Why not?”

“I advise you to not ask that question again, mister.”

At some point, he needed the full story on the relationship that seemed to be more than complicated. He pulled out a pile of clothes and set them next to him to fold. Felicity moved faster than him, piling an insane amount of sweatshirts up in the basket after she dumped the rest of the clothes out. How many sweatshirts did they need? She laughed when she caught him looking. “I haven’t done laundry in weeks, and some of this is the other part of the team’s stuff.”

“They have interesting fashion.”

“A lot of this is René’s.” She patted the top of the pile. “He loves clothes like this. Oliver wears these clothes when he’s mopey, but I think most of his stuff is still over in the lair.”

“Why’s it there?”

“That’s where he’d been living.”

Which was odd, since his dad appeared to be living here. Or maybe not. Did he sleep on the couch or something? There were only two bedrooms, and whenever he had nightmares, Oliver got there in seconds. “Uh, can I ask you a question?” No use waiting for her to answer, because if she knew what he wanted to ask, she’d say no. “Why was Oliver living down in the lair?”

“Well…” she continued to fold, her eyes never leaving the clothes. “It’s complicated. Very complicated. But Oliver and I…we just found each other again. We’ve had a very crazy several months. And I guess that after everything that happened a couple weeks ago, we just decided that it was time to move on. Together this time. Does that make sense?”

“Uh huh.” Though fishy. They hadn’t been together and suddenly they were all in again? He didn’t read romance novels—only books that involved action, thank you very much—and he wasn’t very old, but that situation didn’t make sense to him. But judging by Felicity’s reaction, he wasn’t going to ask her again. That would be a question for Oliver at some point. “What does Oliver do when he’s the Mayor?”

“Oh, just your typical stuff. Saving the city from disaster almost every day. Kidding. It seems actually quite boring, besides the crazy stuff he has to deal with from time to time. Don’t tell him I said this, but I think he enjoys being behind a desk and not being shot at. Not that he enjoys being shot at. It’s just that the Mayor thing is a routine, while being out as the Green Arrow, there is a seventy-five percent chance that death could come tonight.”

“Sounds terrifiying.”

“Oh, it is. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to watch…” she took a deep breath. “Never mind. Thank you for helping me with this. Usually it takes a lot longer, because I’m really terrible at folding clothes.”

“I used to help my mom with this kinda stuff. She was a teacher, y’know, so she had a lot of stuff to do, so I’d get this stuff done for her.”

“I bet she loved when you did that.”

“It actually usually annoyed her because I always put everything in the wrong places. One time I tried to do the laundry and I turned everything pink.”

Felicity laughed and pointed to one of the shirts. “That’s what I did to this one. Oliver was _so_ happy about that. If you haven’t noticed, I’m good at computers. That’s it.”

“Oliver thinks you’re awesome, though, so you’re definitely better at more than that.”

She cocked her head and looked at him for a few seconds before nodding, and then giggled. “Maybe you should be our relationship counselor. We’ve talked about giving that a shot, y’know.”

No, he did not know.

“There’s a lot of issues that we both need to work out together, and eventually, it might come in the form of counseling. Or premarital counseling. Which is _not_ something you need to tell Oliver about. Shall we do something else now?”

“Like what?”

“I was thinking—”

Her words got cut off by a beeping sound that came from the tablet on the counter. William pointed at it as she ran to grab it. “Oooh, frack.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Just a minor thing. Well, relatively minor considering what happened two weeks ago. Hold that.” She handed him the tablet and grabbed her phone. “Oliver! Hey, honey, we have a bit of a situation going on.”

William looked down at the screen. Robbery at thirty-second street. Who robbed anything in the middle of the day? The Green Arrow and his posy would be able to easily take these idiots down. Though the rest of the posy were apparently on a much-needed vacation from crime, which left only his dad.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but that’s an elderly living space. Could you just run down there and check it out? I’ll be on coms if you need me.” When she set her phone down, she gestured to a small box on the table. “Could you grab that for me, please? It’s my com.”

“Oliver had one on on the island.”

“Correct. Thank you.” She opened the box and slipped the tiny black bud into her ear. “Can you hear me? Perfect. And since William’s here, I’m gonna open up the coms on my tablet so that he can hear us. Yes, Oliver, because he’s a part of the family now and you can’t argue against this decision. He can listen in on this one.”

 _He’s a part of the family now._ William smiled as he took a seat next to Felicity. He watched her fingers fly across the keys, drawing up things he could only assume were satellite imaging. _Right?_ When he asked her, she nodded.

“I use a whole bunch of different things. Don’t ever tell anyone this, but sometimes I use the CIA’s facial recognition, or Argus’ equipment.”

“Fel-ic-ity?”

“Yes, dear?”

“My son does not need to hear about your— _our_ —illegal activities.”

“I literally have your name on my computer as the Green Arrow.”

“I know, but he doesn’t need to know about…you.”

William laughed at Oliver’s hesitant voice, and Felicity’s open mouth, eyes narrowed as she glared at the tablet. “For the record, I like when she talks about this stuff.”

“ _Don’t_ encourage her.”

“No, I really do. I like computers and stuff.”

“Ha! So he’s not exactly like you!” Felicity pointed at the tablet, her laugh sounding a little satonic. Oliver released a long sigh.

“Honey, you are ridiculous.”

“Do you guys usually argue this much?”

Both of them answered, “No.” Felicity clicked off the com and said, “It depends on whether or not he woke up on the right side of the bed.” When she clicked hers back on, Oliver asked, “Why’d you turn that off?

“Because I needed to cough.”

Willaim pursed his lips, considering his options. There were two of them. Continue being a super sweet kid who cried a lot, or flesh out and be a little different than what Oliver and Felicity were used to. His mom told him to go with the latter.

“No, actually, she told me that you guys fighting depends on whether or not you woke up on the right side of the bed.”

“ _Hey_!”

“That was supposed to be between you and me!”

 _Bravo_. He tried not to laugh, but watching and listening to them both sputtering about made him giggle. And then burst out laughing that brought tears to Felicity’s eyes. “What?”

“It’s just that this is the first time we’ve really heard you laugh. And it sounds like Oliver’s.”

He hadn’t heard his dad laugh much, but the idea that he sounded like him…it did something to him. All his life, he’d watched his school friends get picked up by their dads, and he wondered about that feeling. Now he finally knew what it felt like, and it was more than he could’ve ever imagined. Mom would be smiling down on him right now, because he finally got to experience what it was like to have a true family.

“Okay, Felicity. I’m here. You seeing anything?”

“No sign of anybody. The call came from the basement, though. Do you have your suit on?”

“Everything but the hood. I’m going down now.”

“I’m seeing something to the left—”

Something exploded. William jerked forward, but Felicity reacted first, screaming, “Oliver!” over and over into the com.

“Wh-What’s…what’s happening?”

“I don’t know. _Oliver_? Can you hear me?” She swore and slammed her hands on the counter. “I knew this was a bad idea! My God, Oliver, this is so _stupid_!”

“Hey, hey, he’s not dead.” William touched Felicity’s cold, shaking hand. “I’m sure he’s fine.”

“Oh, you have no idea.” She leaned closer to the tablet, her voice cracking as she begged, “Oliver, answer me!”

Something crackled and then Oliver breathed, “I’m okay, Felicity. I’m okay.”

Felicity burst into tears. Her hand lifted to her face as she cried. Oliver asked at least ten times if she was okay, but she kept shaking her head. William pried the com out of her ear and jammed it into his own. Maybe he didn’t need that, but it made him feel cool. He turned off the sound on the tablet and then spoke. “Hey, it’s William. Felicity’s okay, but she’s crying.”

Oliver sighed. “Tell her I’m okay and I’ll be home soon. Between you and me, she’s still recovering from everything that happened and this probably set her off. Sit on the couch and ramble. That’ll help. I’ll be home in fifteen minutes.”

William turned off the com and shut the computer. He looked at Felicity, who just stared blankly ahead, not blinking and barely breathing. What was happening right now? Was she having a panic attack? Anxiety attack? Or was it something else that he hadn’t learned about yet? “Hey, Felicity?” She didn’t answer. _Help me_. He wasn’t equipped for this at all. He was only eleven, after all, who was still recovering from losing the only parent he ever knew.

But right now, that wasn’t the priority.

“Let’s go sit on the couch, okay?” He pried her fingers from their death-grip on the counter and helped her stand up. She followed him to the couch, sinking down next to him when he tugged on her hand. What had happened? There had been an explosion. And then Oliver not talking. Something in that time frame set her off, and he didn’t know what to do. Except grab her hand and squeeze. And start rambling.

“When I was really little, I had a dog named Smarty. It was a really stupid name but I named him that because Mom told me I couldn’t. And then Smarty turned out to be really dumb, because he ran away and I never saw him again.” He glanced at Felicity. Her expression hadn’t changed. Why couldn’t Oliver call the Flash so he could get here quicker? “Uh…um, I actually really like science. I probably got that from Mom, because Oliver doesn’t seem to like science. Though cooking is technically a science. So maybe he enjoys it more than he lets on?”

Finally, her eyes glimmered. A little bit. William whispered a ‘thank you, God’, and kept going. “Computer science is interesting, I think. I’m not really smart when it comes to stuff like that, but I think I could learn how to do it. Maybe you could teach me sometime? Because you’re probably the smartest computer person in the world, and it’d be fun to say that you taught me stuff. Also, I think we should surprise Oliver one night and cook dinner, because he thinks you’re a terrible cook and you’d probably be decent if you had help.”

He went silent for a few moments and listened to Felicity’s breathing. And watched her face. She didn’t have the nearly-dead look to her anymore, but whatever had happened was still there. _C’mon, Dad, get home._ He’d just called Oliver ‘dad’. It wasn’t supposed to be that simple, was it? _Focus_. “Obviously I don’t know much, but if you want to talk about it…” Bad move. She stiffened again. “Okay, sorry. I’ll tell you about my other animals, okay? I’ve had a lot. I was obsessed—”

“Felicity!” The door burst open and Oliver ran in, wearing his Green Arrow suit. He set his helmet down on the counter and ran to the couch, dropping down into a squat by Felicity. His hands enclosed around both of theirs—William’s included—as he searched her eyes. “What happened, honey? You can talk to me, okay?” One hand reached up and caressed Felicity’s tear-stained cheek. “Talk to me, Felicity.”

“C-Can you…”

“Want me to hold you?” He pulled her up into a standing position and wrapped his arms around her. Her body started to loosen, and after a few minutes, Oliver sank back down to the couch, Felicity cuddled in his lap. William scooted to the side and watched as his dad calmed Felicity down by planting kisses on her hair and face until she heaved a deep breath and relaxed against him.

 

That night, William found Oliver in the kitchen, making coffee. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Is it about what happened today? Because I was coming to talk to you about it.” He sighed. “There’s something you should’ve known from the beginning. No one in this house, or down in the lair has had a perfect life. We’ve watched our parents die, and cities blow up. And sometimes, what seems like a small thing can trigger memories of those events and that can cripple any of us.”

“So Felicity had…?”

“A mixture of everything. The explosion triggered a memory, and me not answering triggered another.” Oliver sat down on one of the stools and smiled at him. “Thank you for taking care of her. It might not seem like it, but every little thing helps in a situation like that. And just being there for her does a lot.”

“From the little bit I’ve been around her, she’s always so happy.”

“Felicity’s name literally means happiness.” Oliver’s eyes glinted with tears when he spoke. “But she’s not immune to the darkness that we’ve been surrounded in. She’s been my light for five years, but sometimes she needs people to be _her_ light. You did a good job of doing that today.” Oliver clapped him on the shoulder as he walked past. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

William decided not to tell him for the sixteenth or seventeenth night in a row that usually one of the parents would situate him in bed and say goodnight or something like that. He missed his mom doing it, but eventually, Oliver would figure it out. Tonight, he dug around in the fridge for more food and after finding a half-eaten sandwich, turned on the TV. There was a discussion about how Star City hadn’t been subjected to a terrorist attack for the first time in four years. Both women on the show wondered if it had to do with the new mayor. It made him grin. _That’s my dad_. He’d saved a lot of people, and so had Felicity and the rest of team.

But he was just coming to realize at what cost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, if there's anything that you'd like to see, leave a comment or tell me on Tumblr! You can find me at @lovejesusarrowavengers! Thank you to all who have liked/commented/subscribed....the response to this has been so awesome!!


	4. Aunt Thea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> William gets to hang out with his aunt.

Nightmares woke him up three nights in a row after that, but after another late-night run for ice cream – because they ate the two other tubs – he managed to sleep through the night for four days straight. A new record. On the night that marked a month since he’d come to live here —and since his mom died—he sat at the table, staring at a piece of paper that contained math problems that Felicity wrote out for him. He liked science, but hated math. There was nothing that could convince him that this subject was fun. It didn’t help that his dad took one look at the problems and said, “I have a lot of work to do for the office,” and went upstairs. Felicity had something going on some place, which meant she wasn’t here to help. William rolled his eyes for the hundredth time and tried to focus on the second problem.

Someone knocked on the door, and then rang the doorbell. When Oliver didn’t come down right away, he opened the door, halfway through doing so realizing that it wasn’t a great idea, but he did it anyways.

“Heyyyy!” Thea bombarded him with a hug that could’ve rivaled his grandma’s. She pulled away and tugged him into the Loft. “Where’s Ollie?”

“Upstairs somewhere.”

“And not down here with his son? Idiot. _Oliver_?”

“Heard that all, Speedy.” He appeared at the top of the stairs, though there wasn’t much of a smile on his face. What was his problem today? He seemed to be a bit of a grump, but he came down and gave his sister a hug.

“I thought you wouldn’t be back for another couple weeks.”

“I thought so too, but I decided that it was time to spend time with my _new_ _nephew_!” She ruffled William’s hair, even though she wasn’t much taller than him. “Oh, your hair is so cute. Ollie, yours was never this cute. Or this clean.” She leaned in closer to him, her voice dropping to a whisper, “He hates showering, as you can tell.”

William giggled, which did nothing to help Oliver’s scowl. Thea noticed, and whacked his arm. “What’s your issue? You look extra grumpy today.”

“It was a rough day at work. And if you’re okay with keeping him company for a bit, I need to finish something up.” Before getting an answer, he went back upstairs.

Thea let out a laugh and walked to the kitchen. “Your dad has his moments. Trust me. Is there any food left over after dinner? I haven’t had Ollie’s cooking in weeks.”

“Felicity brought French fries home that Oliver threw away.”

Her eyebrows raised. Maybe more about the fact that he called him ‘Oliver’ and not ‘Dad’. He just didn’t want to yet. Thea pulled the cardboard box out of the garbage and squirted ketchup into it. “So. You’re William. You look way too much like my brother.”

“Well, he is my dad, so…” he shrugged and watched her eat the French fries.

“How’s that been going for you?”

“Being here?”

“Yeah. I’d like to hear about it. Did Oliver teach you how to use a bow yet? Did you see the Arrow Cave?”

“No, uh, he hasn’t taken me down there yet.”

“Isn’t that shocking.” She stuck another French fry in her mouth. “It took him three years to tell me that he was the Arrow.”

“The Arrow?”

“Well, first he was the Hood, then the Arrow, then the Green Arrow. It’s complicated. Ask Ollie about it.”

“I think you’re more likely to tell me.”  

Thea laughed and called, “Did you hear that, Ollie?”

“What?” He appeared at the railing.

“Your son just said that I was more likely to tell him about your problem with changing names than you.”

William watched Oliver’s face as it went from annoyed to worried. Whatever the different code names were, it brought something along with it. Fear? Guilt? He wasn’t someone who could pinpoint emotions, but he could figure out this one. From what he could put together, his dad wasn’t a great guy a while ago, so maybe that had something to do with it. Or maybe there was something else wrong.

“He doesn’t need to know about all of that yet.”

So eventually he would get the whole story. How long would that be? William glanced at his dad one more time and then turned his attention to Thea. She had a smile on her face, but it didn’t hide the dark circles underneath her eyes. Not really caring whether or not Oliver heard this, he asked, “What happened to you on the island? Everybody seems to have had…something terrible happen to them.”

Thea shifted around, her gaze flitting everywhere but him before she took a deep breath and looked at him. “My dad died. He was a good-for-nothing man, but…it’s still hard.”

No wonder she hadn’t slept much. Though older, she’d been going through the same thing he had. “I didn’t know that. I’m really sorry.”  

“There were much bigger things to grieve. But that’s why I needed to take some time to myself. Malcolm was a terrible dad, but he saved my life more times than I’m willing to admit.” She shrugged but a thin veil of tears covered her eyes. Apparently she cared more about her dad than she said. Either that or she was crying happy tears. “He died to save me, which is the most loving sacrifice a parent can make, but it—”

“Speedy, he does not need to know about all of that.”

 _Uh_ , _oh_. William turned around and raised his eyebrows at his dad, who now stood a few feet behind him, glowering. “What’s wrong?”

“You don’t need to hear any of that.”

“Why not?”

“Because…” Oliver’s gaze flitted to Thea.  “I don’t want you to know about that. You’re only eleven. That’s no time for anyone to hear about everything that’s happened.”

“Well, he’s going to have to hear about it someday.”

“The key word is someday.”

“Ollie, why are you so grumpy right now?”

There was dead silence. William winced when Oliver glared at Thea. It took several seconds, and then his dad sighed and took two steps backwards.

“Sorry.” His voice sounded different than a moment ago. “William, are you okay with Thea being with you for a bit?”

“Yeah.” She could beat bad guys up if they showed up here, right? “I’m okay here.”

“Good. I’ll be back in a bit.” He squeezed his shoulder, grabbed a jacket, and left.

William watched him go, furrowing his eyebrows as the questions whirled in his brain. He’d been here a month, and Oliver had never been grumpy. From the times he remembered, at least.  There’d been a few scuffles between him and Felicity, but there hadn’t been a moment where his dad was stomping around, until tonight. “Where’s he going?”

“He’s got a gym of sorts down in the lair. When he’s mad or upset, he goes down there and works out until he collapses. That’s his way to deal with things.”

“That’s kind of a sucky way to deal with problems.” He’d been forced to do the pacer test the past three years in school, and that was enough working out for him. He didn’t see the point. And his dad liked to work out to calm himself down? “That sounds terrible.”

“That is one thing that I will never understand about him. One of the things. And his obsession with socks.”

This was new information. “Socks?”

“Yeah. He really likes socks. I’m not going to judge him, because it’s a cheaper obsession than a lot of other things, but it’s still a little odd. So if you ever need a birthday or Christmas present for him, buy him some crazy socks.”

“When’s his birthday?”

“May 17th.”

So when Oliver rescued him, it was only the day after his birthday? For some reason, that made him sad. “What’d you get him for his birthday?”

“I meant to get him a baseball cap for the Star City team, but I ran out of time, so I bought him a new knife, which I never had the chance to ask him whether or not he already has it.”

“Oliver likes baseball?”

“Basically any sports. You’ll have to ask him to take you to a game sometime. When we were little, we went to a lot of baseball games together. And ate a crazy amount of popcorn and cotton candy. Our dad would take us, and we’d spend hours there, buying stupid stuff in the game shop. It was so much fun.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun.” He and his mom had been to a few high school football games, but often she had work or money was tight. He knew all about that. But maybe with his dad, they would have more time and more money. Or maybe they wouldn’t have much time, because there was so much more to do.

“Ask him sometime. From what I remember, he hasn’t been to one of those since before the Gambit went down.”

“What’s the…Gambit?”

Thea squinted at him. “You don’t know much about…never mind. Oliver will tell you about that in his time.”

Was he going to hear about anything right away? He glanced at his aunt, who stared out the windows, her eyes distant. Finally, she shook herself out of her trance and smiled at him. “Would you like to play a game?”

“I don’t know if there’s games here.”

“Does he know how to do anything?” The words were muttered, but he caught it. He had good hearing, which some adults seemed to not understand. Thea walked to the fridge and opened the cupboard above it. “I think there’s something up here. Do you see anything from your view? I’m too short.”

“There’s a few boxes of chocolates, and a candle. That’s it.”

“So maybe they don’t have games. Check in the coat closet. I’m gonna look upstairs.”

When she went up to the bedrooms, he dug around in the closet, and at the back, he pulled out a box. Well, it wasn’t a cardboard box. It was a container. Which he unlocked and opened, revealing a bow and several arrows. _Don’t play with it_. He shouldn’t, but he set it on the floor and sat down next to the box and pulled out the bow. It was big; half as tall as him. And heavy. This was probably the back-up bow, but it couldn’t be the only one in the house.

He stood up and aimed the bow at the kitchen. Where did his fingers go? He’d never held one before, but since his dad was the Green Arrow, he should at least be able to kind of know what he was doing in case he had to be the mini-Green Arrow, right? Or maybe the backup.

With his fingers on the string, he tugged. The string barely budged. _What the heck_? He yanked again with more force this time, and got the string to move back an inch. At most. Was it locked? Maybe a bow string could be locked so no one like him could pull it back far enough.

“What are you doing?”

He spun around and winced when Thea stood several feet in front of him, eyebrows raised. At least she wasn’t mad. _Too_ bad. “I um…found a bow and I…”

“Wanted to try it?”

He nodded.

Thea rolled her eyes and laughed. “Boys. Always wanting to try anything and everything out. Are you having a hard time pulling it back?” She took the bow from him and got it almost all the way back, proving that it wasn’t locked, because she hadn’t done anything with it before. “Oliver is really strong. The weight of his bow is probably more than I weigh.”

“I didn’t know that that was a thing.”

“Me neither up until a couple years ago. This is Oliver’s backup bow; his other one is way cooler. Felicity designed it for him. Speaking of her, where is she?”

“She’s somewhere. Apparently at a meeting.”

“At Palmer Tech?”

“I think that’s the place she was talking about.”

Thea smiled. “That’s really good. And how are her and Oliver?”

“Am I supposed to fill you in on Oliver’s love life?”

“Yes.” She giggled and tapped his arm. “I’m his sister and I’ve been gone for a month. I gotta know everything that has happened.”

“I don’t really know, and I don’t really want to know.”

“Good point. And you should put the bow back because if Oliver comes in here and sees you with it, _I’m_ going to be in trouble.”

“And depending on what kind of mood he’s in, I might be in trouble too?” He laughed when Thea gave him a thumbs-up.

“You’re figuring this out quickly. But he’ll probably just be mad at me. We’ll put this away. And I was unsuccessful in finding a game, so would you like to go and buy one? You can pick it out. Or…we could watch a movie. Or talk. Or…sleep. I don’t know.” She winced. “I’ve never been an aunt before, if you haven’t noticed.”

“You’re doing good so far. My mom had a sister, and while she was alive, she would let me do things that Mom never would’ve let me do, and kind of encouraged me to be bad. That’s what you’ve done.”

Thea wore a look of horror that made William giggle.

“I’m kidding, Aunt Thea. I’m game for anything, but one thing that I really miss is my Perplexus balls. The box that I had them in was small and it got lost when they were moving it all here.”

“And you haven’t mentioned it to Oliver and Felicity?”

“I…didn’t want to bother them.”

“Pffft. Where can we find those?”

“Target, maybe?”

“There’s one close by. C’mon.” She swiped her keys off the counter and opened the door for him. “I honestly don’t know what a Perplexus ball is. When I was a kid, there wasn’t anything by that name and if there was, I probably hated it.”

“It’s a ball that has a tiny ball inside of it, along with a track of sorts.” It was hard to explain, but he loved doing the different kinds of balls, especially the Star Wars one. When he told her about that one, she laughed.

“Do you like Star Wars?”

“Of course.”

“At some point, we’ll have to have a team movie night and binge-watch all the movies.”

“You have those?”

“Not very often. Usually our nights are spent catching criminals, but sometimes, usually when Oliver’s not around, because he’s a bit of a grump, we watch old movies as we wait until someone commits a crime. When the team gets back together, we’ll have to do something like that.”

On their way to the store, as they sat a stoplight, Thea turned to him. “I’m sorry if this brings up pain, but how are you doing?”

He could only assume she was talking about his mom, so he looked out the window and shrugged. Not many people really understood how he felt. He couldn’t really put it into words, to be honest. What was there to say? ‘My mom died cuz my dad did something to tick some bad guy off and now I’m stuck here’? Because the more he thought about how she died, the more he wanted to throw something. “I guess…I’m okay. I don’t really know what to feel, y’know?”

“Has Oliver told you about our mom at all?”

“He said she was murdered by Slade Wilson?” He still hadn’t gotten the full story on how Slade was on the island.

“In front of us.”

“I-I didn’t know about that.”

Thea released a sad laugh. “I doubt Ollie would want to tell you about that. It was very traumatic for us, but especially me, because Mom died thinking that I hated her. So be thankful that you know that your mom knew that you loved her, because that is something that still haunts me.” She reached over and squeezed his hand. “It’s gonna be okay, William. I promise.”

“I miss her a lot.” He shifted in his seat to look at her. “I miss her tucking me into bed, because Oliver doesn’t do that, and I miss her kissing me before I went to school. And it’s really stupid, but I miss her _smell_. I can’t smell her anymore, and that just…it makes me really sad.”

Thea pulled into the parking lot and turned off the car. After a few moments, she spoke. “I miss my mom a lot too. She always had something about her that made me feel safe. Almost safer than I felt when I was with Ollie. She couldn’t use a bow or whatever, but she had power. And love. So much love. She did everything to keep me and my brother safe, and I miss that about her too. And…” a tear slipped down her cheek as she smiled. “There was this lullaby that she used to sing me at night. I could never fall asleep, but if she sang that song a few times, I’d go right to bed. I’m twenty-two, but I really miss that.”

William smiled at the image he created in his head. A woman who looked like an older version of Thea, singing the Thea he knew now to sleep. For some reason, it was a comfort to him. That Thea missed her mom too, and that she was still laughing and smiling. She was _okay_. “How long ago was it that your mom died?” His grandma, actually. She’d been murdered, which meant he never would get to be spoiled by her, and his dad couldn’t bring him home to Christmas. _Stop creating sad scenarios_. He was too dramatic for his own good. _Probably got that from Dad_. His mom was always straight-to-the-point, all business, while Oliver seemed to be more emotional and defntiely led a more drama-filled life, based on the month he’d been here.

“She died three years ago. The good news is that it gets a lot easier. And one of the keys is to surround yourself with a lot of great people, and it’ll get easier a lot faster than I did for me. So with that in mind, let’s go buy some Perplexus balls.”

 

At eleven or so that night, William sat on his bed, surrounded by five different kinds of the balls. He’d already completed them all, but it didn’t stop him from doing them over and over again. When someone knocked on his door, he set the Star Wars one down and called, “Come in.”

His dad stepped into the room, hair wet with what he could assume was sweat, and t-shirt stuck to his chest. “Hi.” His eyebrows furrowed and he gestured to the things on the bed. “What’re those?”

“Perplexus balls.”

“I’ve never heard of them.” He took a seat on the edge and picked one up. “How does it work?”

“There’s a little ball in each of them, and you have to get it on the start rack, and then you follow the numbers to the end.” He demonstrated for Oliver, who just continued to stare at the one he held in his hands. Was he still grumpy? So far he couldn’t tell, though he would probably be yelling about something if he was still on the wrong side of the bed.

“Where’d you get these?”

“Aunt Thea took me to Target to get them. Mine got lost when you moved my stuff here, and I’ve missed using them.” _Crap_. Guilt washed over Oliver’s face as he winced and set the ball down.

“Y-You should’ve told me about that. I could’ve gone back to your house and looked. Or…taken you to the store to get some more.”  

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. I should’ve asked you if you had anything else that—”

“Really, Oliver, it’s okay.” He didn’t expect him to feel this bad. “I have them now, and that’s all that matters. Don’t worry about it.”

Thankfully, he dropped the subject. “I’m sorry about today. I wasn’t in a great mood and—”

“Nobody’s perfect.” William shrugged, but tried to hide a laugh. “Even _I’m_ grumpy sometimes.”

Oliver chuckled, but it dropped off quickly. “I guess. But I can get grumpier than some people. It’s a gift of mine.”

“Maybe that’s why my mom would get mad at me for being mopey. I had some of you in me.”

“Maybe so.” He tapped William’s knee as he stood up. “Sometime you’ll have to teach me how to use those…what are they called?”

“Perplexus balls.”

“Perplexus balls. Yeah, I wanna learn how to use them. I’ll see you in the morning.” He walked to the door, and stopped to look at him. “Did you have fun with Thea tonight?”

“Uh-huh. She’s a lot cooler than you.” When Oliver shot him a fake glare, he grinned and waved his hand towards the exit. “G’night.”

His dad smiled. “Goodnight, buddy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!!! I love writing Thea, and we'll see plenty more of her. And plenty more of Oliver as well. I'm not sure what the next chapter will be about, but it may include William getting to go to the Mayor's Office. :) 
> 
> Remember, I'm taking prompts and such!!! Leave a comment or send me a message @lovejesusarrowavengers on Tumblr!!! 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has liked, commented, and subscribed!! The love for this fic has been overwhelming!!


	5. Mayor Queen's Son

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> William and Oliver have something special to complete.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's baaaaccckkk!!! Sorry for the wait, but it's a fun one!

“Hey, William?”

“Uh-huh?” He looked up from his Perplexus ball, careful not to jar it, because he was so close to getting to the end. Oliver stood at the end of the couch, dressed in a fancy suit. And he looked slightly annoyed. “What’s wrong?”

“I was wondering if you’d like to come to the Mayor’s office with me today.”

“ _Really_?” He jumped up and tossed his toy to the side. “I can go?

“I-If you want to.”

He’d been hoping that he would get to go there since he found out his dad was the mayor. Every night, he heard him tell Felicity about it, and though sometimes stressful, it sounded cool. Plus, that meant he got to spend more time with Oliver. It was a win-win situation in his eyes, and _Oliver_ had asked him. Trying to contain his excitement, he nodded, and then grinned. “I’d really like to go. But do I have to wear something nice?”

“What you’re wearing is fine.”

Which was jeans and a t-shirt. “But I’m the Mayor’s son. Shouldn’t I have fancy clothes on?”

Oliver’s mouth opened, and didn’t close for a good three seconds. “Sorry.” He took a deep breath. “It’s gonna take me a while to get used to that. But,” he ruffled William’s hair and smiled, “It’s a good thing to get used to. You’ve got a good point; see if you have something a little nicer. Just don’t disturb Felicity.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’ll be fine in about a day.”

The twenty-four-hour flu? “Maybe I should stay home in case she needs someone to help her.”

“Oh, trust me, buddy. She needs to be left alone.”

Was he missing something? William stopped halfway up the stairs and looked at his dad. “What is wrong with her?”

“For heaven’s sakes, Oliver!” Felicity yelled from the bedroom. “Just tell him I’m on my period and you’re scared to even look at me!”

 _Oh_. He’d heard about this. Of course, he knew about periods and stuff, but his mom never got ornery when she had hers. But Felicity did, and…was Oliver scared of her? And scared for him too? He went upstairs to his bedroom and found a dress shirt that matched Oliver’s, but stayed with jeans because his dress pants didn’t fit. When he got downstairs, his dad waited at the door, holding his briefcase. As they walked to the car, William asked, “So. Do you avoid her every month?”

“Sometimes she’s okay, but if she starts accusing me of things and starts pitching a fit about me using the wrong towel, I usually get out of there as soon as possible.” Oliver rolled his eyes as he laughed. “She gets snippy sometimes, and apparently when I think it’s funny, it’s very not funny.”

“You should know that by now.”

“Probably so, but I’m still learning. On a lot of things. Which brings us to why I really brought you with me.”

“You’re really a bad guy and you’re kidnapping me?”

“No. But…never mind.” The last part was clearly not meant for him. “Uh, anyways, we need to do one thing today before I can do anything, and that means doing a press announcement.”

“For what?”

A smile pulled at his lips. “To announce that I have a son. Felicity and I talked about it last night, and we decided that it’s time that the public knows. She was gonna come along today, but since she’s currently not speaking to anyone, we’ll do it together. If you’re okay with that.” 

Everyone would know now. His school buddies, along with that girl who lived by him at his old house. They’d all know that his father was Oliver Queen. The Mayor of Star City. Only a few people would know that he was the Green Arrow. He kind of wished he could tell people that truth, because no one else got to say that. William ducked his head and shuffled his feet. “I would like that. I guess it’ll be nice for people to know that I have a dad.” He’d dreamed of this. To be able to tell people who his father was. Now he could.

His dad had tears in his eyes. He licked his lips, and mustered out, “I’ve waited for a long time to tell people that I have a son.”

He didn’t really know what to say or do in response to that, so he just nodded and looked out the window. He hadn’t been down here yet; most of his time was spent around the Loft, never outside, especially not during the day. Maybe this was why. His dad hadn’t done an official announcement yet. That could be dramatic, right? The Mayor had a son that no one knew about. It seemed like something out of a movie. Except usually during these speeches the son was older, unlike him. Which meant that a little kid like him would have to speak. Or maybe not. “Uh, is there anything that I need to say?”

“Nope. This is a no-questions conference. I say what I want to say, and then Thea will handle the rest. She’s my Chief of Staff, so that’s her job.” Oliver pulled into a parking garage and parked the car. “Don’t worry about anything. It’ll only last a minute or two.” He led the way into the building, and went straight to an older man William recognized from Lian Yu and the funeral. “Hello, Quentin. How are you?”

“Good. And hello, William. You may not remember me.” The man named ‘Quentin’ extended his hand, smiling gruffly. It that was possible. “I’m Quentin Lance.”

“I’m William. Nice to meet you. Again. How do you know…my dad?”

“I’ve known him since he was about your age.” Quentin ruffled William’s hair and chuckled. “You are like a sweet, less-stressful version of him.”

“Hey, Ollie!” Thea came down the stairs, wearing a fancy outfit. “Hey, William. Nice to see you both. Did you tell him?”

“Yeah. He knows.”

“Good. We need to head upstairs because we don’t have too long until the press conference is supposed to start. C’mon, buddy. And look at that, you and Ollie are matching. That’s so cute!”

“It wasn’t planned.” Oliver kept up with them, glancing around the building as they walked towards double doors. He went ahead and opened the door, eyes widening when he peeked in. “Um…whaaat are you doing here?”

William went in next, almost expecting to see some crazy person. Instead, Felicity leaned against the desk, dressed in a yellow lace dress. She smiled and walked towards them, her hand outstretched to Oliver. She squeezed his forearm, and turned to William. “I’m very ornery right now, so no one do anything annoying, because I might blow a gasket. But I want to stand there with you for that conference, and then I’m going straight home because I forgot to bring another tampon.”

Not something he wanted or needed to know. Apparently Oliver didn’t think so either, because he winced. Felicity put her hand to her mouth to stifle a shriek. “Oh. My. _Gosh_. Please completely ignore everything that comes out of my mouth. And I should apologize for anything I ever say about tampons. But for you, William,” she slapped her hand on his shoulder, “This is practice for when your wife—”

“Felicity, honey, please don’t traumatize him. Now we need to do that press conference so let’s go.” He grabbed Felicity’s hand and led the way. William followed along, bouncing way too much. He couldn’t help but look around at the all of the reporters. How many people wanted to know about the news? Couldn’t they have done this from their living room and then broadcasted it? It would make him more comfortable. At least he didn’t need to say anything. Right? That’s what Oliver said. Or maybe he’d heard him wrong and maybe he did have to say something.

“Oliver? I don’t have to say anything, do I?”

“Nope. You just have to stand there and pretend you like me.”

“You’re not so bad.”

Felicity laughed and elbowed Oliver in the ribs. “See? You’re not so bad. Where do you want me to stand?”

“Wherever.”

“Right next to you, then. William, c’mere.” She took his hand and pulled him to the right side of her, so he was standing a few feet from Oliver. He looked up at him, and shot him a shaky smile. This was the craziest thing he’d ever done. Stood in front of a camera as his dad declared that he had a son. _Mom, you wouldn’t ever believe this_. Or maybe she would. She had a crazy imagination.

“Good morning. Thank you for coming.” Oliver gripped the edge of the podium, his knuckles turning white. So he was nervous too. “I know it has been some time since I’ve made a statement, and I’m sorry for that. I will release a statement about the Throwing Star Killer later this week, because today, this is a different kind of press conference.”

Why couldn’t he stop shaking? He was vibrating as all the cameras focused on him. _You’re fine_. He just really hated being up here.

Felicity reached over and squeezed William’s hand, whispering, “If I can stand here with blood seeping down my leg, you can make it through this.”

“That’s not something I needed to know.”

“But did it help?”

He nodded. Felicity grinned.

“The reason I called this press conference is to…” Oliver sucked in a deep breath. “I would like to announce that I have a son.”

The entire room gasped. Some people didn’t recover. William looked up at his dad and they both smiled.

“This is William.” His voice cracked as he gestured to him, a wide smile spread on his face. “This is my son.” He allowed the cameras a few seconds and then tapped his hands on the podium. “Thank you. That is all.”

Everyone started yelling questions all at once, but Quentin put his arm around William and guided him back to one of the offices. Oliver and Felicity came next, and shut the doors behind them.

“Well, that went well.” Felicity gathered her purse and jacket. “Which means I’m going back to the Loft. I will be sleeping when you get home, so do whatever you want. Have fun.” She kissed Oliver on the lips—something he’d started to get used to—and then gave William a peck on the cheek. “I’ll see you tonight.”

When she left, Thea came in and released a long breath. “They’re all going crazy out there, and I can only imagine what’s going to be drawn up in the next few weeks, but that went well. Good job. Both of you. William, do you need anything to eat?”

“I’m good, thanks.” It was gonna take him a long time to eat ever again. “So what happens now?”

“We go to work.” Oliver dropped to the seat and lifted the first file of several. “Thea, can you give me a run-down on what we need to do today?”

“You mean what _you_ need to do today?”

“Of course. That’s what I meant.”

Thea leaned in close and whispered, “I do most of his stuff.”

“Hey!” Oliver shot her a glare and then gestured to the seat a few feet from him. “You can sit there, buddy. Some of this will be interesting, but a lot of it is going to be boring. For me as well.”

He watched his dad go through a pile of papers, signing a few of them, and handing a handful to Thea. It looked like long, boring work that would really suck. After a while, he started fidgeting, and reached for a piece of paper and pen. It took him three minutes to remember how bad he was at drawing. Oliver wasn’t paying attention, and Thea wasn’t in the room, which left him alone. And very bored.

“Do you have any games on your phone?”

“Uh-huh.” The Green Arrow had games on his phone? Oliver handed him the electronic. “If anyone texts anything important, let me know.”

“Thanks.” William put his feet up on the desk and tipped the phone to the side. There were two games. Temple Run and a stupid circle game. _Your games are terrible_. He’d have to tell him that when they got home, but the games were better than nothing, but he went on the app store anyways and downloaded a few newer, cooler games.

A text message popped up as he played. _I got my court date set! Hoss’s phone is dead, so please pass that message onto him._ “Hey, Oliver? Uh, Rene just texted.” He read the text to him, and then asked, “Why does he need a court date?”

“He’s trying to get his daughter back. Her names’s Zoe.”

 _Don’t ask_. But he had to. “How old is she?”

The papers slowly came to rest on the desk as Oliver narrowed his eyes. “Is this something that I should tell you?”

“Oh. c’mon. I’m almost twelve. I like girls.”

“Dear God.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing.” Oliver’s face went from freaked out to horrified. “Does that mean…how much do you know…”

 _No, no._ “Do _not_ try to give me the sex talk!”

“What on earth is going on in here?” Thea stood at the doors, her arms crossed, expression confused. Very confused. “This is not what I was expecting to see when I came in. Except that I could hear something about sex and girls just as I got off the elevator.”

Oooh, crap. William winced. “Sorry.”

Thea let out a laugh. “You two are pathetic. And way too alike. Hopefully not in the girl category, though.”

“Thea!”

“Whaaat?” Of course he knew about how…he came about. He wasn’t dumb, though he didn’t like thinking about it. There wasn’t much that was more disturbing than thinking about what adults did. Thank God he’d prepared himself for living with just his dad by getting the ‘talk’ at school and not from him. Oh, that’d be awkward. “I mean, don’t actually explain anything to me.”

“I wasn’t planning on that.” Oliver looked down at the desk, piled high with papers. “Hey, do you wanna go grab some food?”

“It’s only nine.”

“I know, but I’m hungry. Come on.”

William followed Oliver out of the office and upstairs to the break room. “I’m really not hungry.”

“That’s fine. Do you want orange juice?”

“You have orange juice?” It was too late to calm his excitement. Oliver gave him an odd look as he nodded.

“We do. There’s a big container of it.”

“Yay! I love orange juice.” He grabbed it out of the fridge and poured himself a glass before he noticed the odd look on his dad’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“You…you haven’t mentioned that you like it. I haven’t had anything like that in the house.”

“It’s okay. Mom didn’t let me have it a lot.”

“Still.”

Did he feel bad about everything? William shrugged. “It’s fine. I get really good food here while Mom wasn’t a really good cook, so it’s okay.” He sat down at the table and set his glass down hard to get Oliver’s attention. “You don’t have to feel bad about everything.”

“That’s my speciality, though.” Oliver smiled, as if he was remembering something, but then the happiness faded. “I wanted to bring you up here so we could talk about something really quick.”

“Is it about what Thea said?”

“Kind of.” He shifted in his chair and swung his coffee around in the cup. “I made a lot of bad choices when I was younger. I’m…I’m arguably still making them, but I made _a lot_ of bad mistakes back then. And…” he took a deep breath, but didn’t say anything for several seconds. “I guess what I want you to know _now_ —because you’re too young to know everything yet—is that I am not perfect, and there are things that I did…”

William watched him struggle. Was this why his dad just brought him into his life? Maybe they were too many problems. Or too bad of a past. But it didn’t matter to him right now. He had a dad, and a pretty good one, even though Oliver still hadn’t figured out how to ask him if he wanted anything from the store and thinking about bedtime made him a little annoyed. “You don’t need to tell me anything about what happened yet. You’re a good dad. It’s all good.”

Tears filled his eyes as he nodded.

William grabbed the container of orange juice and grinned. “But I would like it if you got me some of this every now and then. Mom wouldn’t mind. Oh, and I’d love a dog.”

“I’ll get you the orange juice, but no dog. There will be no dogs in my house.”

“What about my bedroom?”

“Felicity has tried for years to convince me to get an animal, but nope. They pee and poop everywhere and there are so many better things to own.”

“Like what?”

“Anything.”

“How many times do I need to ask before I get a puppy?”

Oliver grunted as he stood up and shot him a look. “Two thousand.”

Good thing he had a phone and his dad’s number. He also knew that he didn’t silence his phone at night. William flashed him a grin. “Okay. Are we gonna go back to work now?”

“Yup. This time, I’m gonna have you help me with a few things. Have you ever filed before?”

 

“I’m really tired.” William followed Oliver into the Loft and fell onto the couch. “That was really exhausting. I’m gonna sleep for a week.”

His dad dropped down next to him and closed his eyes. “Usually days don’t go that long. Unless we’re in the middle of a bad-guy week or two. I haven’t been there a lot, so there’s lots of stuff to catch up on.”

“Do you want me to come with you tomorrow? Cuz I can help.” He liked being there too. And they served great lunch, which was a lot better than Felicity’s cooking.

“It’s more of an adult job, buddy.” Oliver tousled William’s hair. “I don’t think you need to be there a lot.”

He thought he hid his disappointment well, but his dad was the master of detection—probably—so he picked it up.

“I would love for you to be there all the time with me. It makes work a lot less boring. But there a lot of things that happen there that I don’t want you to deal with yet.”

But he’d been kidnapped by Darhk and Adrian Chase, plus his mom died. Didn’t that mean he’d already dealt with more than a normal eleven-year-old? He should be just fine in the Mayor’s office. And down in the Arrow cave. But he didn’t tell Oliver that. He just nodded and said, “Okay.”

“I’m sorry, William. But you’re my son. And I’m going to do my best to protect you, because I did a pretty poor job of that for a long time.” Oliver smiled sadly. “I guess I’m just gonna try to make up for that.”

That settled it then. But this settled that his dad felt bad about everything.

“Hey, you two.” Felicity came to the balcony, dressed in a pink bathrobe. “How was the day?”

“Exhausting.”

William giggled when they both answered at the same time. Felicity raised her eyebrows. “Well, there’s leftovers in the fridge, or you can make your own dinner. I’m just watching a movie if you want to join me. And by that, I mean you can’t. Oliver, you can come up once you make me some coffee and bring that little box that’s sitting on the counter.”

When she left, William glanced at the counter. “Little box?”

“Tampons, buddy. They’re tampons.”

Seemed like he was going to need to get used to that word being used around here. Every month. “I’m not hungry, so I’m going to bed. Thank you for the fun day. And uh…I’m glad that everybody knows now.” He smiled as he waved. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

 

An hour or so after the other bedroom door shut, William pulled out his phone and tapped on Oliver’s icon. He changed it to ‘Dad’, and then sent the first of many messages. **Ask #1: Can I have a dog?**

There was a ding, and then five seconds later, “Yes! Let’s get a dog! Now it’s two against one! You have to let us! Please?”

“ _William_!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this!!! The next chapter will be a prompt I received from melicitysmoak and it will contain William's perspective on Olicity. :)


	6. Date Night for Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> William tags along to Oliver and Felicity's date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to one of my favorite (okay, favorite) person here on AO3, melicitysmoak. This was her idea, and I hope that it turned out how you imagined it!!! Hope everyone enjoys it!!! :)

The bombs went off. One by one, each louder than the last. As each ‘bang’ sounded, someone screamed. First Felicity, then Thea, then his dad. Then his mom. She begged to live, saying that she wanted to keep her son safe for a little while longer. But Adrian didn’t care. The bomb began, louder and longer than the other ones.  

William jerked up, reaching for the light switch as he did so. Oliver had installed an alternate switch for him by the bed so when he had nightmares, he could be in the light right away. But he hadn’t screamed tonight, which meant that his dad and Felicity could stay sleeping. He kept his eyes open to keep from seeing Mom die again as tears ran down his cheeks. He stayed occupied during the day, sometimes sitting with Felicity, watching her work on her presentation for Palmer Tech. Sometimes he even got to give input. It gave him something to do, but at night…that’s when everything became a lot less happy. He cried a lot. Not around Oliver, because he would feel bad and try to comfort him, but it just didn’t seem right. His dad had gone through a lot too; why make it worse?

He glanced at the clock. Three. He wasn’t going back to sleep for a while and his stomach kept rumbling, so he grabbed a blanket and opened the door. They always left lights on downstairs—he still hadn’t figured out if it was for him or for Oliver and Felicity—so he made it down without smashing into anything. That would send both of the adults flying down here in likely not much clothing, one with a tablet and the other with a bow and at least a few arrows. The idea of that made him smile. Which was good, because he rarely felt happy at night. The dark bothered him. It always had, but now more so. Adrian had held him somewhere dark for a few days, with only a few glimmers of light.

So he turned the lights up brighter, and flipped the TV on. They had Netflix, but he’d watched most of the kid movies in the past month or so, and the adult movies were blocked. Oliver—he assumed it was him—put restrictions on anything and everything over PG. If he had Felicity’s skills, he could hack into the account and unlock the parental thingy, but he couldn’t do much. He put on _Despicable Me_ and went to the kitchen to find food. Ice cream. They had that, so he scooped himself a bowl and sat down on the couch. After a few minutes of searching, he chose _Cars_ , but kept the volume low.

“I miss you, Mommy.” He whispered the words so no one heard him. Maybe his mom did, up in heaven. Hopefully she did, because she deserved to know how much he missed her. “I like it here. My dad is really cool, and nice. And Felicity’s awesome. She’s a little crazy, but I like her. And I get to go to Oliver’s work sometimes. And I’m gonna convince him to let me get a dog.”

Something made a noise. William spun towards it, his heartrate jumping high. “Oh.” Felicity stood there, wrapped in a blanket. “I didn’t hear you.”

“You have the same reactions to everything like your dad.” She sat down on the edge of the couch. “I heard you down here, and made Oliver go back to sleep because he’s already woken up three times tonight. Anyways, are you okay? Obviously, you’re not totally fine, but…do you get my point?”

“Yeah. I had a bad dream, so I came down here. I do that sometimes.”

“I know. _We_ know.”

“Oh?”

“We hear you every night. Sometimes we’re already awake, but we always hear you and one of us comes to check on you.”

Was this creepy or sweet? “I never hear or see anybody.”

“That’s because we’re good at being sneaky. Oliver is. I like to think I am. But we always want to make sure you’re okay.”

 _I really like them, Mom_. He smiled and leaned against her, since she sat on the arm of the couch. “Thanks for that.”

“Always. Right now would be a good time to talk to you about something.” She took a deep breath. “Oliver and I are going out on a date tomorrow night.”

Should he react? Cheer? Say ‘yay!’? William steeled his facial expression and said, “Okay. That’s good, right?”

“Very good. We’ve held off going out because of a lot of things, but we decided tomorrow night would be good. The only issue is that we can’t find anyone to take care of you for a while.”

“I…I can stay by myself.” He might need to hold the bow the whole time but he could handle it. For an hour. _Half an hour_. Tops. Then he’d start panicking.

“Oliver doesn’t want to leave you alone, and I think that you wouldn’t like that much. But Thea is out of town visiting a guy named Roy, and Quentin and Rene are not suitable to babysit right now.”

“I-I can handle it.”

“William, honey. I’m very good at detecting lying.”

So much for that. “Okay, that sounds really scary and I don’t know if I’d be okay with that yet.”

“Which is why we are bringing you along.”

“ _What_?” On a date? That included his dad and his…probably girlfriend? No. No, no, no. “Are you sure Quentin can’t babysit me?”

Felicity laughed. “Do you not want to come with? Oliver thought you’d enjoy it.”

“That sounds _terrible_!”

“What the heck is going on down here?” Oliver appeared at the balcony. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and the light made it look like he had smudges on his skin. As William squinted, his dad took a few steps back towards the dark, which eliminated any chance of him figuring out why he was dirty.

Felicity put her hand on William’s arm. “We’re discussing tomorrow night.”

“I don’t want to go.”

“Why not?” There must’ve been a basket of laundry on the table upstairs, because Oliver pulled on a shirt. “It’ll be a fun time.”

Filled with him sitting there watching people he loved talk mushy stuff and staring longingly into each other’s eyes. It sounded horrifying. Other kids didn’t have to do this. Granted, other kids hadn’t been kidnapped twice by scary people and hated being alone, and other kids had a babysitter of some sort. William glanced at Felicity, and then at Oliver. “Don’t make it awkward, okay? And remember that I’m there, because I don’t want to be traumatized.”

“We’ll be good.”

“Promise?”

Felicity brushed a kiss on his hair and whispered, “Promise. Would you like to go back to bed? One of us can sit in there for a bit until you fall asleep if you’d like.”

“No, that’s okay. I’m gonna have enough bad things to imagine about tomorrow night that I’ll be okay.”

“Don’t worry; nothing can go worse than our first date.”

He didn’t even want to know. But if it had been a while ago, and they still weren’t married, something terrible had happened.

“We got blown up, and that won’t happen this time.”

“Wow.”

“Felicity,” Oliver chuckled. “Maybe that wasn’t the best thing to share with him.”

“Sorry! It wasn’t a bad blow up. Minor injuries. Bad breakup afterwards.”

So they did break up. William looked up at Oliver, who winced. “Okay, well, I really don’t like explosions, so hopefully that doesn’t happen. I’m going back to bed.” No one had more nighttime drama than his house. Here. Not back in Central City. Star City was his home now.

He didn’t even get his blanket over himself before he fell back to sleep.

 

He spent most of the next day doing school, passing the time as Felicity whizzed around the house, dusting things twice, and then again. After a while, she sat at her computer for an hour before she slammed it closed and let out a loud groan. William shot her a look, but she waved him off. “I’m fine. Just ignore me.” She made a cake that ended up setting the smoke alarms off because she started organizing the coat closet.

At five, Oliver arrived home, said hi, dropped his briefcase on the couch, and ran up to the bathroom. William timed the shower. It took thirty-five minutes. How long would Felicity’s end up being? They needed to be there by seven. At six, Felicity knocked on his door. “Hey, can I borrow your bathroom?”

He squinted at her. Mostly at her bucket of hair spray and whatever else that spilled over. “Is that going in my bathroom?”

“I’ll take it all out. I promise.” She shut the door and walked towards his bed, her voice quiet now. “I want to surprise Oliver with my hair and dress. You can stay in here, because I need you to tell me what time it is every ten minutes.”

“Just bring your phone in.”

“I’d text Thea too much.”

Speaking of texting…he grabbed his own phone but decided that there were better options. He hopped off of the bed and went to knock on the other bedroom door. “It’s me. Can I come in?”

“Hold on a second.” Oliver opened the door. “Did Felicity kick you out of your room?”

“Just my bathroom. But I can get ready in three minutes so it’s fine. Clearly you can’t. How do you get your Green Arrow suit on really fast?”

“I can shower, change, or do whatever fast. Just not this.”

“Put a suit on?”

“Go on a date with Felicity.”

“ _Oh_.” Was he nervous too? Felicity clearly was; but Oliver? He hadn’t thought of that. “Are you…nervous?”

“No.” As he styled his hair. After it had clearly been styled already.

William let out a laugh. “You’re nervous.”

“A little. Or a lot.” Oliver rubbed a hand over his eyes and sighed. “A year and a half ago, I proposed. We were a couple weeks away from the wedding when she broke it off. This is the first time we’ve officially gone out since then.”

No wonder Felicity spent the whole day freaking out. “Why’d she call it off?”

“We weren’t ready yet. _I_ wasn’t ready, and she realized that.”

“So tonight is a big night, huh?”

“I guess so.”

“And I’m gonna ruin it.”

“What? No, you aren’t.”

He could suck it up and stay here by himself, right? It only seemed right. “You and Felicity deserve time alone. Not with me there.”

“Buddy, you are coming. We decided that, and it’s gonna help having you there. And this isn’t a typical situation. We’ve been engaged, almost married, and then spent a year trying to avoid each other which didn’t work so well. This next phase is just us getting things back on track.”

Had he watched too many PG romance movies lately with Felicity or was his dad talking about…“Are you saying that you’re gonna propose again?”

“Shhh.” Oliver glanced at the door. “Not yet. I’m gonna wait for the right time.”

There were times to be the sweet child, nodding along and agreeing with everything said, but there also came a time when he could be a pain in the butt. He’d been one the past few days, causing minor strife between all of them with the dog conversation, but now? He could take this and run with it. “You should do it tonight.”

“No.”

“Why not? You said it yourself that you’re just working through things. You were already engaged. You should just find a ring and propose.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“I think it—”

“William!”

“Gotta go.” He ran to his bedroom, almost laughing at Felicity when he saw her. Did they realize how pathetic they were acting? She was sitting on his bed, wrapped in a towel and another towel on her hair, and when he came in, she whispered, “Help.”

“What’s wrong?” He shut the door and then raised one eyebrow. Something he discovered he could do after seeing Oliver do it a few times. “Nervous?”

“I’m terrified. I’m so happy you’re coming with, because I’m almost at the level of nerves that I was for our date three years ago. That was…I had to take calming pills. And I remember telling myself that I wouldn’t be that nervous until my wedding day, but it’s not my wedding day and I’m freaking out.”

“If it makes you feel any better, Oliver’s over there freaking out too.”

“I know he is. Which is what really makes _me_ nervous, because Oliver is generally calm about things.”

“Except you.” He flashed her a grin, and she smiled back. “He told me about how you guys were engaged a couple years ago.” And if his math was correct, it was around the time when Oliver first showed up at his house, claiming to be a friend of his mom’s. Did he have something to do with the break up? “It doesn’t seem like you have anything to worry about.”

“There is everything to worry about. This is a date. The most official thing we’ve done since I went wedding dress shopping, and I’m freaking out.”

“I’m not really a love expert, Felicity.”

“I know. And I’m sorry.” She brushed her fingers underneath her eyes. “It’s just that Thea said I can’t text her anymore, and my mom can _not_ know about this yet. She’d be on the next plane here. That would be…it’s scary just imagining it.”

“Is your mom crazy?”

“Crazy as in she wants grandbabies? Yes. And in other categories. You’ll see. Okay, I’m going to get dressed. At least I have my outfit picked out. Unless I throw up or something.”

William flopped down onto his bed and let out a loud groan. Is that what it was like dating? If so, maybe he shouldn’t keep trying to find a picture of Zoe. Or any girl, actually. Maybe he should stay single, because this sounded really scary. Or maybe they just made it seem like that.

Sometime he’d ask Oliver about the breakup. What if did have something to do with him? Felicity loved him now, but maybe she wasn’t ready for a child in her life. Or maybe it was something else. He didn’t want to ask now; what if it ruined the dinner? Tonight needed to be perfect.

At six forty-five, Oliver knocked on the door and yelled, “We need to go in a couple minutes. Are you guys ready?”

“Almost!” William stood on his tiptoes as he struggled to clip the latch on Felicity’s dress that she couldn’t reach. “Are you sure Oliver shouldn’t do this? Because I’m not doing a good job.”

“You got this.” Felicity looked beautiful, and it was almost hilarious how much time she spent on making herself look that way. All for his dad. And it was even more hilarious knowing how much time Oliver spent to look perfect for her. _Adults_. He got the latch clasped and stepped back. “All done. You look really pretty.”

“Thank you, William.” She smiled and reached out to fix his hair. “You look very dapper yourself. Let’s go before I have a heart attack.”

“Or before Oliver does.” William opened the door and scurried out so he could have a view of the reaction. Reaction _s_. Oliver’s eyes widened, and then he grinned. Felicity fiddled with her hair for a split second before raising her head to show her smile. They came together with a kiss, and then a hug that lasted way too long for his liking. If they just made eyes at each other the whole time…

When they pulled apart, Oliver tapped his hand on his thigh. “Ready to go?”

“Uh huh.” William followed them down to the parking garage. Most of the drive, Oliver told Felicity about his day at the office, and then updates on the team. When Siri told them they would arrive at the destination in three minutes, they both went quiet. William watched their hands. They both did the same finger twitching thing, though Oliver’s moved at a more rapid pace. When they parked, Oliver opened the door for Felicity and helped her out.

They had a private area for the night, since his dad was the Mayor. William took the seat on the side to give the people on the actual date the seats so they could successfully stare at each other the whole time.

Felicity straightened out her dress and took a deep breath. “I keep telling myself that there’s nothing to be nervous about, but I can’t stop myself. Because we technically have less to be nervous about than the last time, and I’ve seen you shirtless even more since then. Just an hour ago, actually.”

“We don’t have anything to be nervous about.”

“But we are anyways.”

“Yeah.” And the stares started. Longing, loving…whatever other sappy words there were. William picked up the menu, and the movement caught their attention.

“Sorry.” Oliver cleared his throat. “We’re doing our best, which is terrible.” He caught Felicity’s gaze and shrugged. “We could tell him how we met.”

“I feel like we need to personally thank Floyd Lawton.” Felicity tipped her head towards William. “I was working in the IT department in Queen Consolidated, when he came into my office and asked me if I could pull data off a bullet ridden laptop.”

“Bullets?”

“Uh huh. And what was the excuse?”

Oliver chuckled. “I spilled a latte on it.”

“And I couldn’t help but think, as I stared at the body of his, that there is no way a guy who looks like this drinks lattes. More like…energy drinks.” That must’ve had a special meaning to it too, because she giggled. “But I helped him, and that was my first contribution to the team.”

“That wasn’t really a team yet. Felicity made it a team.”

“So let me get this straight. You brought her a computer that had bullets in it and told her you spilled a latte on it?”

“His excuse was that his coffee shop was in a bad neighborhood.”

William let out a laugh that was too loud, but he couldn’t stop it. His dad’s sheepish face didn’t help with calming himself down. “That…was your excuse?”

“Maybe.”

“And you believed him?”

“Not really. But I knew he was a good person.” Felicity’s eyes lit up when she talked about Oliver. He hadn’t noticed before, but tonight, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. “So I helped him.”

The adults ordered wine and William asked for Pepsi, since he never got to drink that. He asked for it once and Oliver said no. Tonight, he just shrugged and said, “Sure. It’s a special event.”

William leaned forward and put his elbows on the table. “So. When did you guys…team up?”

“His mom shot him.”

 _Whaaat_? “Your mom _shot_ you?” 

“I showed up as the Hood and she understandably tried to kill me.”

Felicity laughed. “Too bad you weren’t in such a good mood when Barry asked that same question.”

“Who’s Barry?”

They shared a look, and then Oliver leaned closer to William. “Barry Allen is the Flash.”

The CSI. One of the cooler guys in Central City. “He’s…”

“Shhhh. We can talk about that later.”

“But he’s…?”

They both nodded. William put his hand over his mouth and let out a tiny shriek because if he didn’t, he’d have to keep that bottled up inside for a couple hours and that would suck. “That’s so cool! But I’ll stop talking about that. Continue with the other story.”

“I knew she was working, because I’d checked that night. So I found her car and waited for her to come in.”

“Scared the crap out of me when I went to back up and there he is. And he never paid for the blood stains in my car.”

“You got in trouble for that?” Oliver’s eyes widened. “You never said anything about it.”

“It’s okay. I only had to give them all of my paycheck for the month. Kidding. It only cost a little bit. Anyways, I took him to the place he wanted to be. Which was the old lair.” She leaned forward to whisper the last sentence.

They had a different lair before? He stocked that knowledge in his brain to ask about later when they weren’t surrounded by normal people. William listened to the probably censored version of her joining the team, and then the next couple years. There were parts when they gave him a look and said, “That’s for another time,” but he got the idea of their relationship. Lots of struggles and lots of staring at each other.

“We’ve been through a lot together, haven’t we?” Felicity’s lips formed into a smile as she looked at Oliver, who nodded. “And somehow, here we are. With an adorable little boy with us, because that’s our life now, and…”

“We somehow made it out stronger?”

“Yeah.”

William looked between his dad and Felicity, as they looked at each other. He didn’t know about adult love at all, but he was beginning to see why they ‘were in love’. Oliver was the Green Arrow, really tough and scary—at least that’s what he thought—but when Felicity started talking or _literally just walked in the room_ , he got all sweet and turned into something that was anything but scary.

The staring started going too long, so he cleared his throat. Felicity responded first, sitting up straighter and covering her mouth to hide a giggle. “Sorry. This is really nice. To just sit here and not have to worry about the city, or saying the wrong thing. Mostly because I’ve already said all the wrong things and there isn’t anything else I could say.”

Oliver shifted. “I can’t say I’m done doing the wrong thing.”

“That’s okay. We all make mistakes.” Another thing that had to have a double meaning.

They got their food, which, for him, consisted of a weird, fancy looking steak that cost at least forty dollars. Good thing Oliver had money. Or Felicity, since he’d seen his dad carrying two of her credit cards in his wallet. William stared at his plate and fingered his fork. How was he supposed to cut this thing?

“Hey, bud?” Oliver pointed his fork at William’s knife. “Use that.”

“Oh.” He picked it up and spun it around. It slipped out of his fingers and clattered to the ground. “No one saw that.” Heat flamed his face as he sat back up. “I-I don’t think I know how to use this.”

“To spin it around like an assassin or…?” Oliver grinned as he spun the knife a couple times.

“Show off,” William muttered. But he almost felt like taking a video, posting it on social media, and saying ‘can your dad do this?’. Or maybe that would be too revealing. Most dads probably couldn’t do that. “Can you show me how to cut meat like a normal person?”

“Uh-huh. Hold your knife like this. No, never mind. It’s like this.” Oliver loosened his grip on the knife and moved his fingers up. William noted the place they’d been. Probably the way to throw one of these, which he wasn’t going to ask in a place filled with people who were already giving them weird looks. “You wanna hold your fork on the side of the meat so that it’ll hold it still while you use your knife to cut it. Like this.”

He copied Oliver’s movement, though it took him three more slices to get through the meat. “That was pretty good, right?”

“Yeah. It looks good. And now you know how to use a knife. In public.”

“Thank you.” And did that comment mean that eventually he’d learn how to yield a knife in a different way? _Please, please_. Throwing knives was cool. Really cool. He shared a smile with his dad and then started eating. It was good expensive food. Mom would’ve never brought him to a restaurant like this. Sometimes, they could barely go to a decent place.

“Hey…so who has all the money?” He should’ve chewed his food, because the words came out weird, but they understood.

“My family were billionaires.”

“What?” He choked on his piece of meat. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope. We owned Queen Consolidated. My parents did, for the most part. When I took over, about three years ago, I ran it into the ground and now I’m broke.”

“Well, that sucks.” For him too. “But how can you possibly make that much money?”

“My parents did a lot of bad things to get that money.”

“So it wasn’t technically your money?”

“No. And there’s more to that story that I’ll tell you sometime. But now the only money we have is Felicity’s.”

“What’d you do when you weren’t together?”

Oliver shrugged. “Lived off my paycheck as Mayor. Felicity pays for all of the stuff we need when we’re…you know, and she regularly restocked the cooking area where I was living. Thankfully, things work better now.”

“Which means that I’m paying for dinner.”

“I could try, but my card would be denied.”

“Then you could at least say you attempted to pay, but I overruled you.” Felicity winked. Oliver let out a breathy laugh and looked down at the table. After several seconds, he raised his head to look at them. “Thank you for coming tonight. Both of you. After everything that happened this year…”

Felicity reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “A lot of bad things did happen, and I’m pretty sure I regret ninety percent of what I said and did the past several months, but I don’t regret this.”

“This date?”

“No. You. And you,” she tipped her head towards William and smiled at him, but then she looked at Oliver again, her eyes starting to water. “That’s not something I’ll ever regret, so you can stop worrying about me leaving, because I’m not doing that again.”

William watched as his dad stood up and went to Felicity’s side, his eyes bright with what he could assume were tears. Happy ones. She hopped up and wrapped her arms around his neck. They stood like that for a couple minutes, Felicity on her tiptoes, even in her heels. Oliver rested his chin on her shoulder.

They’d both been through a lot. It was halfway through the stories that he realized that those marks on his dad’s body weren’t mud or dirt. They were scars. Just like the scar he saw on Felicity’s shoulder when he latched her dress, but much worse. And Oliver clearly didn’t want him to see them. Sometime, he would mention the scar on his stomach from that time his appendix almost burst and he needed surgery. Scars didn’t bother him much; maybe his dad thought they did and that's why he hadn't seen him without a shirt on. 

The rest of the night was spent talking about random things and eating dessert. With a smirk, Oliver put his credit card on the tray, but Felicity laughed the hardest when the waitress brought it back and said it didn't work. She handed the woman her credit card and explained that they'd forgotten that Oliver had a fraud charge on his card and it was shut down for a little bit. When she left, William rolled his eyes and said, "You guys are bad." 

"Possibly." Felicity twirled her finger through her hair. "But when there's so much bad, sometimes it's necessary to have a little fun. Like tonight. Obviously, I paid, but that doesn't really matter. This was so perfect. Thank you. Both of you. Because, bud, if you hadn't been there for me when I was getting ready, we would've had this date in the hospital." 

 

When they arrived home, William yawned three times in a row, and declared himself too tired to do anything else. Plus, the adults needed some time without him. “Thank you for letting me come along. I had a lot of fun.” He gave his dad a hug, which seemed to surprise him. Oliver hesitated, but his arms came around him after a few seconds. It felt good to be hugged by his dad. Better than he'd ever imagined. 

“Thank you for coming with us.” Oliver’s voice didn’t sound right. A little lower than normal. And quieter. “It was...really nice to have you there.”

Next, he hugged Felicity, who saw it coming and even bent down—though she didn’t actually need to do that—and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you so much for coming, William. You have no idea how wonderful it was to have you there. Sleep tight, okay?”

He reached the top of the stairs before he turned around and grinned at Oliver. “And don’t think I forgot about that puppy that I’m getting.” Before he got a response, he waved and headed to his bedroom. “Goodnight!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, send me some ideas/prompts on here or @lovejesusarrowavengers on Tumblr. I love hearing from y'all!!! Everyone's been so sweet, and awesome! I'm not sure what comes next, but it should be fun. :)


	7. A Family Tradition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Queens celebrate the Fourth of July.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy late 4th! I decided to throw in one of my family's traditions...enjoy! :)

“Do you know about Independence Day?”

Oliver paused and turned around from flipping the pancakes, his expression amused. “I’m an adult. Of course I know about that.” He hesitated and then asked, “Do you?”

“We read about it last year. It’s kinda cool. Especially when we dumped the tea in the harbor. That was my favorite part.”

“That’s not surprising.” Felicity walked into the kitchen, wearing a blue skirt and red frilly shirt. Coupled with the white bandana on her head she looked like a messed-up American flag. “Boys love that part. Right, honey?” She stood on her tiptoes to give Oliver a long smooch on the lips. William rolled his eyes and looked down at his phone. He was reading up on today. Just because.

“I also like the part when we threw a party.” Oliver leaned down to keep kissing Felicity.

“And that’s what we’re gonna do today, right?” William spoke louder than normal to pull them away from making out during breakfast. Worse, because they hadn’t even had breakfast yet. “Are the pancakes done?”

“Yeah. Yeah, they are.” Oliver flipped a few of them onto a plate and handed them to William. “If you want chocolate chips, they’re—”

“Say no more.” He ran to the cupboard and grabbed the chocolate chips. “Do we have whipped cream?”

“Absolutely no—”

“Oh, c’mon, honey, it’s the Fourth of July. It’s party time.”

“And sugar high crash time, apparently. Go ahead, bud. Just not too much.”

“Thanks!” He piled the chocolate chips and whipped cream on top of his pancakes, knowing he’d regret this later. But he hadn’t gotten something like this since before Mom died, because Oliver didn’t let him have crazy things for breakfast. Or lunch. Dinner either. Though there wasn’t a ton of weird things to have for dinner. “This is really good.”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Oliver chuckled. “Felicity, can you take care of the pancakes for a bit? I need to start marinating the steak.”

“You don’t want me to do the latter?”

“I don’t want to take a trip to the ER because you cut your finger off.”

William laughed.

Felicity glared.

“How do you think I made it twenty-two years without you, Mr. Queen?”

“It’s obvious.” Oliver opened the fridge and pulled out two steaks wrapped in paper. “And it’s the reason why you didn’t have much money. You spent most of it at McDonalds.”

“Hmmm. If you want more kisses today, you’d better drop that.”

“Pretty sure I’ll get them either way.” He winked. Felicity swooned. William sighed. The flirting and whatever else adults did had gotten worse since the date a week or so ago. They couldn’t stop kissing and smiling at each other. It was ridiculous.

“Can I ask a question?”

“Ask away.”

“Did you two have anything special that you did when you were little?”

“Uh…” Oliver stopped his cooking for a few seconds to glance at Felicity. “My family didn’t really have anything too special. My friend Tommy and I always set off fireworks in our backyard the night before.”

That was a name he hadn’t heard before. “Who’s Tommy?”

“He was my best friend. We knew each other when we were little. He passed away five years ago. But he was a cool guy.” Oliver smiled at him. “He would’ve liked you.”

Another guy who had died. How many dead friends did they have? He shouldn’t have asked about him. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. I should’ve told you about him. Anyways,” he took a deep breath. “We always grilled out, and then watched the fireworks by the lake. It was fun.”

It didn’t sound too fun, based on his voice. “What about you, Felicity?”

“Well, my mom usually worked that day. She got paid a lot because it was the fourth. But if she could, she’d make food the night before so I’d have some friends over.” Felicity leaned on the counter, her eyes not very happy. He’d learned how to pick that up. “Then we watched the fireworks from my mom’s work.”

“So basically, both of your traditions sucked.”

They looked at each other, eyebrows raised, and then nodded. “Basically.” 

“Can we come up with something fun? Because we can’t have a boring day. And since I’m permanently here, we have to start a tradition.”

“Any ideas?”

“How about we do the Star City Rocket Race?”

Oliver’s hands slowed down as he looked up. “The running race?”

“Yeah. I saw it advertised at the store yesterday. It’s only a mile, and it starts in thirty minutes, though we might be too late.” _Please say yes_. He wasn’t going to mention it, in fear of it being an inconvenience, but since they had time, he could ask and now hope they’d say yes.

Oliver and Felicity shared a long look before his dad nodded. “Let’s do it. Do you have tennis shoes?”

“Uh-huh. I’ll go get everything.” He jumped up and made it halfway up the stairs before he remembered something. He turned around and shouted, “Thank you!”

Ten minutes later, they were in the car. They’d all changed into different clothes, and Oliver was talking on the phone. “I’m going to be there whether you like it or not. No one’s gonna blow me up or anyone else up. Seriously, don’t worry about me. I’ve got this.” He set the phone down and released a long sigh. “Honestly, it would make a lot of sense for me to tell those guys I’m the Green Arrow so they would stop worrying about me.”

William leaned forward. “Who were you talking to?”

“The head of my security. I wouldn’t have said anything, but I needed them to get there and hold the race for us.”

“Hold…the race?”

“One of the benefits of being Mayor. I’m not sure if we’ll get there in time, so I asked them to hold it.”

William grinned. “Thank you.”

“Like you said, we gotta start a new tradition. Next year we’ll try to be a little earlier.”

“And a little bit more prepared?” Felicity had her legs up on the dash, rubbing them. “I’m going to die. Literally die.”

“Don’t worry, Felicity.” William tapped her shoulder. “I’m not gonna run fast, so you can go with me.”

“Oliver told me you ran track before. You can sprint it. Just have some water ready for me when I’m done.”

“Felicity, you don’t have to run this.” Oliver shot her a look. “With your legs…”

“Nope, I’m doing this. Like you said, we’re starting a family tradition, and I’m not going to start it out with me being lazy at the finish line. I’ll just have to take it slow. And hon, if I get last, you have to pay off the newspapers to not put that detail in the there.”

They got there five minutes before the start. Two men in fancy suits held three clip-on tags with their numbers on them as they all jogged to the area of the starting line. A lot of crowd hushed when they noticed the Mayor, his girlfriend, and his son pinning the numbers on their shirts. William bounced around on his tippy-toes, trying to contain his excitement. Today they would start a tradition. A crazy one that wasn’t centered around boringness.

“Hello, Mr. Queen.” The starter walked up to them and extended his hand. “It’s good to see you here. We’ll be starting the race in five minutes, if that’s okay.”

“Sounds good. Thank you for waiting for us.”

“It was my pleasure.”

When he walked away, Oliver shook his head. “It’s still odd. For a long time, money was the reason why everyone doted on me but now it’s because I’m the Mayor.”

“Your parents would be proud.” Felicity tucked her arm around his waist as they walked down the hill towards the starting line. William hopped along, warming up his muscles. He was going to run fast today. Show off a little. That Oliver Queen’s son was talented. “My mom would be mortified to find out that her daughter is running a race without her heels on.”

_Whaaat?_

“Since we have chips on our shoes, we can start wherever. So?” Oliver gestured to the crowd. “Take your pick.”

He wanted to start in the front. But that could cause problems because there would be a lot of people trying to get close to his dad. “Um…”

Oliver chuckled. “We can go in the front.”

“Are you sure? What about you?” He glanced at Felicity, who waved her hand.

“I’m slow no matter where I’m going to be, so it doesn’t matter.”

They took their spots in the front, Oliver and Felicity on the outside with William in the middle. He almost laughed at their outfits. They’d both gone from lounging around the house to workout clothes. Felicity kept up with her American flag theme, but with black shorts instead of blue. And his dad went full ‘I’m the Green Arrow so don’t mess with me’ with his clothes. “Hey, Oliver? Thanks for doing this.”

His dad just grinned.

The gun went off. William sprinted forward, but he lost his footing when an older guy lunged to get ahead of them. He stumbled, scraping his knees on the pavement. “Ow.” His hands hurt too. Oliver squatted down, his hands resting on his shoulders.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He looked up. Both of them were worried. And mad. _Uh, oh_. Oliver’s jaw clenched as he looked from him to the people running past them. “I’m fine. Seriously.”

“Well, if you’re okay, do you mind if I run ahead?”

“Uh huh.” He pushed himself up, wincing when Oliver literally growled. “I’m okay. I promise.”

“Doesn’t make it any more right. I’ll see you at the end.” And then he left.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Felicity’s hand squeezed his arm. Her voice sounded so much like his mom’s. So caring. So concerned for him. He smiled.

“Let’s go. This is gonna be a good tradition.” He started again, trying to hide the pain as he ran. His knees hurt. There was a little blood too. His hands stung the most, but he kept them towards his hips so Felicity didn’t notice them. “What’s Oliver gonna do? He’s not gonna…”

“No. No, he won’t. He’s just gonna go win the race.”

“Really?”

“That guy that ran you over is a really good runner. Cocky, and he doesn’t give a crap about anything. I’m pretty sure I remember hearing he won the race last year.”

“And Oliver can beat him?”

“Of course. And I’m rapidly running out of air.” She huffed and waved her hand forward. “You can run ahead if you’d like. I’ll be fine.”

“I know, but I’d rather stay with you.” He could win his age group next year.

“Pfft. You’re a boy. You don’t want to run with an old lady like me. _Go_.”

“You sure?”

“Go!”

He sprinted ahead, deciding to ignore his scraped-up knees. Time to be a little like his dad and be tough. He’d have some serious ground to make up, but if he could get in the top three…it’d be awesome. Especially since his dad was gonna win the race. He passed a bunch of women running together, and then a couple boys his age. _C’mon. Make Mom proud_. She loved watching him run, and this time, he could make his _dad_ proud.

He spotted the finish line. A few people were there, including Oliver. Hopefully he won. _Almost there_. Then he could breathe again. And clean up his knees. The blood had seeped down onto his white socks and his tennis shoes. Good thing his dad took care of that jerk for him. As he neared the finish, Oliver started cheering. Loudly. William got a burst of speed and rushed past the last two people just as they crossed the line. There. He’d done it. Maybe not totally won, but he might just get a medal.

“Hey, that was awesome!” Oliver appeared at his side, holding a water bottle and a small kit that hopefully held Band-Aids. “Good job, buddy.” They high-fived and William smiled. That was all he needed. His dad to be proud of him.

“Thanks. Did you win?”

Oliver grinned. “Won it all for you. The guy wasn’t happy about it, and neither will most of the team when they find out I, y’know, won the race, but…it was necessary. Where’s Felicity?”

“She told me to run ahead, so I did. Hopefully that’s okay.”

“She’s more than capable of handling it on her own.”

“Should we go meet her wherever she is? Just to be safe?” He didn’t want anything to happen to her. “The blood dried up, so it doesn’t need to be fixed yet.”

Oliver glanced down at his injured knees, and then out at the people running in. “You sure you’re good?”

“Yup.”

“Okay. Let’s go.” They jogged together back towards the final hill, keeping up conversation as they went. Oliver asked about what track events he liked to run, and what his times were. William told him everything, including the story about the girl who tripped him and then asked him out. And about the coach who flirted with his mom.

They spotted Felicity and joined her. She waved at them and gasped out, “Talk. Later.” She sent questions at Oliver though, who smiled. She let out a laugh that sounded more like a gasp of air. William just kept running, careful to not trip over anybody. They finished the race for the second time, but together this time around. Oliver sprinted over to the coolers and back with a water for Felicity. “You all good?”

“When I woke up this morning…I didn’t think I’d be dying during a mile.” She chugged half the water down and then smiled. She looked extra pretty when she did that. Oliver thought so too. “But I’m glad we did it. And you won. Bravo, Mr. Queen. Bravo. How about the other Queen?”

It was the first time he’d been referred to as that. “I think I got a medal in my age group.”

“Good job, buddy!” She clapped him on the shoulder with a crazy amount of force. “I bet I got last in mine. Also, honey, what are you going to say when everyone realizes the _Mayor_ beat really fast men? Not that I’m saying you’re slow, but…”

“I know. But it was a better option than showing up at his house tonight.”

“That would’ve been funny.” William giggled but stopped as someone walked towards them.

“Wow, Mr. Queen. Star City didn’t know you were such a good runner.” The man shook Oliver’s hand, and then looked at William. “And you, young man, really pulled a comeback out of the bag. You must have your father’s genes.”

He’d always wondered where he got his running skills from. His mom couldn’t run much; her legs would ache after just a short time jogging. No one seemed to know where it came from. Now he knew. He got it from his dad. William shook the man’s hand. “Thank you, sir.”

They hung around, saying hi to the people who came up and introduced themselves. Several thanked Oliver for the first year in a long time that didn’t involve a terrorist attack. Little did they know that it instead involved an island blowing up and people dying. When there was a lull in the action, Oliver took William to the bathroom and cleaned up the blood. He tried his best not to show pain, but halfway through, his dad looked up. “You do know that I know how this feels, right? It hurts. No need to try to be tough.”

“But you’re tough.”

“Only when necessary.”

They finished the bandaging, and went back outside. Felicity waited for them. “They’re starting the awards, so you’d better get over there. I’m just going to wallow in my shame of being the only Queen who didn’t get a medal. Oh, my. Forget I said that.”

Oliver whispered something to her. William almost mentioned the ring that was hiding somewhere in the Loft.

The announcer called ‘Mayor Queen’ up to the tent to claim the men’s overall trophy. William caught his dad shooting the guy who’d tripped him a look of fire on his way up, but he smiled and took the trophy. It was big. A few minutes later, ‘William Queen’ was called. He glanced at Oliver, who winced. “I didn’t…the guys who signed you up…”

“It’s fine.” Truthfully, hearing that made him really happy. “I’m your son now, so…” he jogged up and bent down a bit so the lady could put the second-place medal around his neck. Not bad. For starters. Next year, he’d win it. When he came back to where Oliver and Felicity stood, he grinned. “Can I hang this up on the wall in my room?”

“Sure thing.” Felicity swung her arm around his neck. “Ready to head home? John Diggle just called, and he and his family are back in town. They’re bringing dessert and some sparklers. There’s a chance that Quentin might stop by. Unless he’s hanging out with René for the night. We’ll see. But you’ll love JJ.”

“Who’s JJ?”

“Dig and Lyla’s son. He’s the sweetest thing ever.”

“How old is he?”

“Three.”

“Mr. Queen?” A man with a camera walked up to them. “Can I get a picture of you and your family?”

“Uh, sure.” Oliver extended his arm out to Felicity and William. He scooted closer, but Felicity stepped away.

“No, no. You guys get a picture. I’m not technically a part of the family, per say. My last name’s not Queen and—”

“Fel-ic-ity.” He did that sometimes to shut her up and make her listen to him. “You’ve been close enough to being my wife that you can call yourself a Queen. So get over here.”

Maybe he should go get the ring for his dad to help him along. William put his arm around Oliver’s back and leaned in close for the picture. It probably turned out great, because the cameraman couldn’t stop smiling. “Thank you. This is big for the race. Having the Mayor show up. Next year there will be hundreds of more people.”

“It was William’s idea.” Oliver shot him a smile. “We’re starting a new tradition.”

“It’s a good one. Lot better than just watching fireworks. Have a good rest of the day.”

“Ready to head home? We can stop for some ice cream.”

“Really?”

“Don’t act so surprised.” Oliver chuckled and put his arm around William’s shoulders. “Let’s go get some ice cream.” With his free hand, he intertwined he and Felicity’s fingers. “How do you feel?”

“Like I should probably go running with you every now and then. That or buy a treadmill.”

“You go running?”

“In the morning before you wake up.”

“You get up, run, and get back before I wake up?”

“Yeah. Is that weird to you?”

“I wake up at six. Say it takes fifteen minutes to get out of the house, and hour to run, and another fifteen minutes to clean up…that’s really early. Aren’t you ever tired?”

“Do you ever wonder why he falls asleep during every movie that we ever watch?”

“I do not! I’ve told you a hundred times; I don’t get tired.”

“Just give yourself three years, and you’ll get paid back for ten plus years of getting literally no sleep. William, don’t copy your father in this category.”

“Don’t worry, Felicity. I really like my sleep.”

“It’s not that I don’t like sleep. It’s that I have problems sleeping.”

Oh. The nightmares. He’d forgotten about those. That better not be him someday. Getting up before four because he couldn’t sleep. He didn’t have to be completely normal, but it would be nice to be usual in that category. He’d probably always have nightmares, but maybe he could keep them from completely taking over his night life.

They got ice cream, and then went back to the Loft. Felicity dropped to the couch and fell asleep two minutes later. William helped Oliver finish up preparations for the night, and then went up to shower. Afterwards, he flopped onto his bed and pulled out his phone. Most things on here were blocked, thanks to his overprotective father. And…his dad’s girlfriend. She could arguably be more protective in the realm of electronics than his dad.

“Can I come in?” Oliver knocked and then opened the door.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing reallu. Felicity’s still sleeping.” He came in and sat down on the bed. “I probably should be too.”

“According to her, you’re behind a few years in sleep.”

“More than a few years in sleep.” He chuckled and pulled his legs up onto the bed. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Discussions that began with that never went well. “Am I in trouble?”

“No! No, definitely not. This is about tonight.”

“What happened?”

Oliver stared at the picture of the baseball player on the wall for a few seconds before he looked at William. “Have you ever heard of PTSD?”

“Post-traumatic stress disorder? Cuz yeah, I’ve heard of it.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“The words kind of describe it, don’t you think?”

“Well, yeah. It’s something that most people have to some degree, but sometimes, something terrible happens and certain things can cause memories. Like fireworks. The noise might trigger something. From the island.”

The explosions. That made sense. William nodded, staring at the picture of him and Mom on the nightstand. He had dreams almost every night of her dying. And the explosions. So many loud noises, just like the fireworks. “I didn’t think of that. Will it…happen?”

“It might. Which is why Felicity and I came up with an idea.” He shifted. “I haven’t watched the fireworks for ten years for a hundred reasons, but if you’d like to, I’d be willing to do that tonight. But if we do, there’s a spot out in the country where we can sit and we won’t be able to hear the noises very much but still be able to see the fireworks pretty well.”

William closed his eyes and imagined all of the Fourth of July celebrations that he remembered. He always loved the day, and most of it was because of the fireworks. “I guess…a lot of things have changed since Mom died, which isn’t all bad, but it’d be nice if _that_ didn’t change. So if we could watch the fireworks from afar, and keep that tradition—”

“Then we’ll go.”

“And you never know.” William shrugged and then smiled. “Maybe it’ll help.”

At six, John Diggle pushed open the door. With two pans of something in his hands, he called, “Hello, everyone! The crew is here!” Thea, John’s wife, and JJ came in behind him. “Happy Fourth of July!”

“To you too.” Oliver dried his hands on a towel and went to give them all hugs. “Felicity’s up in the shower.”

“I heard you did something different this morning.” Thea gave William a hard, long hug. “And Ollie, you _won_?”

“Don’t act so surprised, Speedy.”

“I’m not, I’m just…surprised you showcased those talents for the public.”

“It was for a good cause.” Oliver shot William a look. One that said ‘no one will know but us’. “Dig, did you bring the burgers?”

“Right here. Ready to grill?”

“I think so. That way we can get to the place we’re gonna watching fireworks on time.”

Thea scuffed her feet on the ground. “We’re doing what?”

“We’re gonna watch the fireworks this year.”

“Oliver, you haven’t watched the fireworks since…before.”

“I know. But William wants to watch them, so we’re going out to that old spot where we watched them when you were really little. You don’t remember because you were one or two, but it’s really quiet, but we can still seem them.”

She nodded. William watched her face. Clearly, she hadn’t seen them for a while either. Had any of them? Maybe there were too many bad memories. “You don’t have to come, Aunt Thea. I just want to watch them because that’s what I always did with my mom.”

“It’s okay, buddy.” She smiled as she squeezed his shoulder. “I’d like to try. I’m not sure if I’ll be okay with it, but if Ollie and Felicity are going to try, then I’m going to as well. We’ll do it as a family. John?” She looked at him. “Are you gonna come?”

His wife set JJ on the ground and looped her arm around John’s waist. They shared a look before she spoke. “JJ hasn’t gotten a chance to watch the fireworks yet because we can never find a good place to watch them that aren’t too loud. We’ll come along.”

“Hey, everyone!” Felicity called from the top of the stairway. She wore a blue and red striped dress that made Oliver smile. “It’s so good to see everybody here. Oh, JJ, look at you!” She lifted the little boy from Lyla’s arms and made him laugh when she tickled his stomach. “You’ve gotten so big. Did you enjoy your camping?” The question was more to the adults. “We’ve missed you.”

“Camping was nice. Especially after everything that went on. I can’t say I missed you all too much.” John chuckled. “Though I do look forward to getting to know you, William.”

“Oliver and Felicity talk about you a lot.”

“They do, do they?” He raised his eyebrows. “I’m surprised.”

“Pfft. Come out and help me grill. William, you can come help too. Grab that scraper on the counter.”

He grabbed the required utensil and skipped out to the deck with his dad and John. They spent half an hour out there, grilling the steaks and hamburgers, before they brought the food in. Dinner was entertaining, filled with way too many stories that he didn’t understand. At one point, JJ sat on his lap and fed him food. At eight, they left the Loft with fifteen blankets, two bags of licorice, and six bags of popcorn. William tried not to feel sad as they drove to the spot. His mom would’ve loved this. Watching fireworks in the country. As they climbed the big hill, he cried a little bit. Good thing it was dark enough that Oliver didn’t see. They were going up first, since Felicity was doing something on her tablet. When they got to the top, Oliver started spreading out the blankets. “Just so you know, it’s okay to miss her.”

He needed to pretend that that wasn’t what he’d been crying about. Or that he’d been crying at all. “Huh?”

“I miss my mom too, y’know. She was a part of my life until I was almost thirty, and it still hurts.” He gave William a sad smile. “So it’s perfectly okay to be sad.”

“I really try not to be sad, but she would’ve really had fun here.”

Oliver straightened up and gestured to him. “C’mere.” William closed his eyes when he pulled him into a hug. His mom always gave him hugs. Whenever he was feeling sad, no matter how many times he rolled his eyes and let out loud groans to express his displeasure. If only he had treasured those a little bit more. With his dad, he would. Mostly because his life was more precarious than any other dad’s.

“Hey, Queens, as much as I hate to interrupt this moment, I am now here and you’re standing on all the blankets.”

William laughed and took three or four steps backwards. Felicity stood near them, smiling. “Sorry.”

“Oh, it’s nothing to be sorry about. It’s sweet, actually. But everyone else is coming and we promised we’d have everything put together before…oh, wow.” She pointed in the direction of the city as a firework exploded in the sky. “Boy, I’ve forgotten how pretty that is.”

“Me too.” Oliver stiffened beside him as a quiet ‘boom’ echoed. It wasn’t that bad, though. To him, at least. Maybe he hadn’t experienced enough bad things in his life to be freaked out. William glanced back at Felicity, who seemed to be just staring into the distance where the first firework went off. Oliver hadn’t moved either. _Okay._ Clearly even quiet explosions set off stuff. Likely from the island, but that couldn’t have been the only time they’d been in a situation like that.

“Hey, how about we play music?” He scooted towards Felicity. “I brought my phone with and I have some fun music on there.” She nodded, and Oliver said ‘sure’, so he whipped out his phone and turned on some loud country song that probably would be deemed inappropriate if anyone paid attention to the words. He never did. The music filled the area, and, probably by a miracle from Heaven, it drowned out the distant noise, only leaving the colors in the sky. “How is that?”

It took a minute or so before it became okay again. Felicity reached down for a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders before sitting down. Oliver relaxed, and then sank down next to her. William stayed standing to watch for the rest of the group, but he kept an eye on them. After another minute, his dad laid back all the way, and pulled Felicity with him. _Great_. They were cuddling.

When everyone else got there and spotted them, he flopped down next to them. “I’m sorry that I brought you up here.”

“No, no, it’s okay.” Felicity tousled his hair. “This is something that we haven’t done in a long time, and we’re going to do it because if we can figure out a way to do it, we’re going to start a tradition. Run a race in the morning and somehow manage to climb a huge hill to watch fireworks.”

Oliver rolled over. “Is that a dig at me?”

“Yes. This hill is ridiculous. Like Nanda Parbat bad.”

“How else are we supposed to see the ones fired from the city?”

“Don’t get so defensive, hon.” She leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek.

“Oh, that’s so good to see again.” Thea’s voice broke the moment. “And I’m not talking about the fireworks. Though they’re a lot smaller than what I remember.”

“That’s because they are. We’re a lot further out than normal. For a reason.”

“I’m not complaining. This is perfect, actually.” Thea dropped down next to William. “I like your music.”

“Don’t encourage his music choices, Speedy.”

William laughed. “You don’t like my taste?”

“It’s…questionable.”

That made everyone laugh. Even JJ, who wriggled down from Diggle’s grasp—he’d discovered that no one called him John except in serious moments—and started running around, flailing his arms, and screeching. Dig and Lyla took one end of the big blanket with the best view of their son, Thea stretched out on the edge, and William sat next to Oliver and Felicity, who, of course, cuddled.

One of the first things he’d thought about when he found out Mom died was the holidays. He loved Christmas. Easter. Basically any time he got to have candy and have fun. Doing anything without her terrified him. This year, though, he got to teach JJ how to use sparklers, he played how-fast-can-you-roll-down-the-hill with his aunt, and he got to spend the entire day with Felicity. And his dad. Who ended up falling asleep halfway through the fireworks.

When they realized he was down for the count, Felicity snickered and tapped William on the shoulder. “Remember how I said he always falls asleep during the movies?” She gestured to Oliver’s still form in between them. “Exhibit number one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The running race is a tradition my family has had since I was very little!   
> I was writing this, and discovered a big thread on Tumblr about whether or not Oliver and Felicity would have reactions to fireworks. I decided to incorporate that (using how I felt about the whole idea) into the chapter. Star City has country around it, and I'm sure Oliver knew exactly where they could go to see the fireworks but not be around the noise as much. If this were a fic from Oliver or Felicity's point of view, I could delve deeper but this is a little kid's perspective. I hope that what/how I wrote it works for everyone. :)
> 
> Thank you for sticking around!! I'm not sure what comes next, but we might just hear 'Dad' in the coming chapters. And the lair. Curtis. It's gonna be awesome. :)


	8. Two Against One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for being gone for so long!!!! I had a July filled with busyness. I celebrated my 18th birthday and spent the rest of the month working. Finally, I got some time to write this, and managed to get a long chapter done for you all! This delves into PTSD, so this chapter is dedicated to all the lovely people who defend Oliver's mental health so well. Obviously, the POV is William's, but I hope that this gives us all a little glimpse into some of the struggles Oliver has had.

When the alarm clock started blaring, he jerked up, shrieking. It never went off. He stayed in a sitting position, gasping for air when the door slammed open. Thea ran in, wrapped in a blanket. “Are you okay?”

“I’m…fine. My alarm clock went off. What are you doing here?” If he made any noise whatsoever, Oliver or Felicity—or both—came running in, sometimes holding weapons. It was always an embarrassing sight, but this morning, Thea stood at the doorway, looking sleep-deprived. “Are Oliver and Felicity okay?”

“They’re fine. Just had a big night as the Green Arrow and Overwatch. They’re still at the bunker, so they called me to stay here until they get back.”

“Oh. Well…” it was only five. Just his luck. He hated getting up early. Especially when it was an alarm clock. “Can I go back to bed?”

“Sure you can. I’m going back to bed too. If you need me, I’m in the other bedroom.”

“I’m not a kid.”

“Oh, I know that. But I’m your aunt, so I get to baby you, cuz I didn’t get to for a long time. Now go back to bed.”

He pulled the covers over his head and closed his eyes. His head hurt. They stayed up late last night watching movies. He finally went to bed at midnight, which meant that Oliver and Felicity had been called away after that. Most of the time, he went to bed at ten and slept until seven. How many times had they left without him knowing? It made more sense now. How sometimes Felicity fell asleep at the table while she worked on her Palmer Tech thingy. Or why Oliver would walk into the Loft, say hi to them, and pass out on the couch. They’d been doing their Arrow business. Why didn’t they tell him? He could at least know. He could help make dinner sometimes if they were too tired. Or do some laundry. Felicity taught him how to do that.

William released a long sigh and rolled over to his stomach. “Ugh.” Why did his alarm go off this morning? He just wanted to sleep. Not lay in bed and wonder if his dad and Felicity were getting enough sleep. Because, technically, if someone didn’t get enough sleep, reflexes would be slower and…what if someone tried to kill Oliver and he was too tired to stop it? Then he wouldn’t have a dad either.

 _Shut_ _up_. He tossed to his side and curled in a ball. He needed to go back to bed. When he woke up, they’d be back and he could stop panicking. Then he would ask about how often they went out at night. He squeezed his eyes shut and imagined a big plush blanket. The one he and his mom used to wrap up in. _No, no, no_. If he thought about her, he’d end up crying, which he didn’t feel like doing right now. _You’re okay_.

 

He woke up when the bombs exploded. William jerked up but kept himself from screaming. He learned how to do that, though sometimes the dreams were too bad and he couldn’t keep it in. It was now seven-thirty. Better. Lying in bed would just make the recovery worse, so he dressed and snuck down the hall, pausing at the other bedroom door. Thea snored. Louder than Felicity. He slunk down to the living room and flopped onto the couch. Tears sneaked out of his eyes. Tears he didn’t want to shed. He could wake Thea up and tell her to hug him, but he didn’t want to bother her.

He needed a hug from his mom.

That or a punching bag. Maybe that would work. Oliver worked out a lot, apparently. Thea told him once that it was to make everything go away. If his dad did it, maybe it worked. Whenever he was feeling down, he could go hit things.

Muffled words came from outside. Yelling, which made it easier to make out what was said.

“You’re being ridiculous.” Oliver’s voice.

“No, I don’t think I am. I’m stating a fact.”

“You are not. You’re going off on an emotional rabbit trail that is going to end up with…” he messed with the lock and jerked the door open, “me on the couch which isn’t fair, because you started it. Oh. Hi.” His voice softened when he spotted William. “We didn’t realize you were up.”

“Obviously. Did you get beat up?”

“I’m fine.”

“No, he’s not fine.” Felicity brushed past Oliver and even sent him a glare too. “He’s anything but fine.”

“Are you dying?”

“On the inside.”

 The sarcasm was real in her. William wiped his eyes and chuckled, which was his mistake. Oliver’s forehead crinkled as he walked closer. Now they’d know how hard of a time he was having. “What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re crying.”

“No, I’m fine. Are you okay?” He had a gash on his forehead. Not enough sleep, probably. “And what are you and Felicity fighting about?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Oliver dropped to the couch next to him, failing to stifle a groan. “What matters right now is you.”

“No, no, it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine.” His voice softened even more as he leaned in closer. “Did you have a nightmare?”

Maybe it was lack of sleep, or the fact that his dad sat a few inches from him, but he started crying. It began as tears, but transitioned into sobs. So much for not wanting to cry. He couldn’t help it. It also didn’t help that Felicity sat down on the other side of him and put her arms around him as well. It wasn’t fair. That he had to go through all of this. Most kids got to play sports and worry about getting good grades, but he was living with the Green Arrow after his mom died from an explosion on an island in the North China Sea. It just wasn’t fair.

After a while, Oliver cleared his throat. “Would you like to talk about it?”

“N-No.” If he talked about it more, he’d cry more.

“Y’know…you know that it’s okay to talk about it, right?”

“Yeah. I just…” tears flowed again. “I’m tired of nightmares. They’re scary, and they make me…they make me cry.”

Oliver released a long sigh and leaned back.

“Plus, I wake you up all the time.”

They shared a look, and then Felicity tapped William’s knee. “You wanna know something? You might not, because you sleep hard, and we’re…getting better at it, but sometimes, we keep each other awake. You know we have nightmares, but sometimes…sometimes they’re bad, and it gets ugly in there. Last night,” Oliver shot her a ‘don’t you dare’ look, but she ignored it, “after we put you to bed, we got a call from our friend Dinah, who is a cop. She said there’s a hostage situation, so we went to the lair and Oliver went out, along with Dig and Dinah. There, they saw two people die. Tonight, one of us, or both of us, will probably have a nightmare. Over two people we didn’t know die by a bullet to the head. You were kidnapped twice, and your mom died. That’s a cause to have nightmares, and it’s not a bother to us when you wake up and need someone to talk to.”

“We’re adults, and we need help sometimes.” Oliver flashed him a smile. “You don’t have to feel bad about needing to talk to us about something or even coming into our bed for a bit. Felicity’s used to it.”

“Don’t think that this gets you out of what we were talking about.”

“Are you guys fighting?”

“We’re discussing. Right?”

“No, we’re hotly discussing your head.”

That made him forget his issues for a second. “Your head?” He had a gash there; was he more injured than that? “Are you okay?”

“No, he’s not.”

“Felicity, he doesn’t need to hear about this.”

“No, he does not. William, could you, uh…”

“I can go upstairs.” And stay well within earshot. “Thea’s still here though.”

“Ooh. That won’t be good.”

“Well,” Oliver pushed himself up. “I’ll take advantage of this time and go to work.”

“If you do, know that I’ll have an even more convincing story tonight.”

“Felicity.” He released an exasperated sigh. “Why are we discussing this now?”

He was just trying to figure out what they were talking about. _Arguing_ about. There was no ‘civil conversation’ going on right now. In fact, maybe he should go up to where Thea slept and pull the covers over his head and let the snoring drown their arguing out. William rolled his eyes and stood up. “I’m going to shower.”

“Uh…” Oliver cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. I need to be by myself.” He ran up the stairs before they could make him stay. He flipped the shower on, turned his music on, and crept back out to the hallway. How else was he supposed to get information?

“Felicity, we can’t get into fights in front of him. Let’s just…I’m going to work and then we can talk about this tonight when we’re down in the lair. It’s better than doing this here.”

“Why? Because you’re worried that William is gonna discover that his dad has issues?”

“I haven’t been dishonest with anything. He knows I have nightmares, and that I have PTSD. Isn’t that enough?”

“I think William has a lot of issues, and it might help him if you can talk about it some of the issues.”

There was a long pause, and then rustling. “I’m going to the office.”

“Don’t think we’re done with this.”

“We’re not, but a whole day will give you plenty of time to realize that you’re overreacting. And that you have issues too. Tell William goodbye for me.” Ten seconds later, the door slammed shut. William scurried back into the bathroom to avoid getting caught. With the tempers flaring right now, it wouldn’t be a great time to get caught eavesdropping. He didn’t feel like showering, but he wet his hair in the sink to give off the impression. What were they arguing about? Oliver having PTSD? Of course he had it. If William had it, Oliver definitely had it. Why was it reason to argue, though? He looked it up after the firework incident. PTSD, along with anxiety, could be helped with counseling or therapy. It wouldn’t take it away, but it would help.

At this stage of horrible things happening, the whole Arrow team went to counseling, right?

He spent another hour in his room before going downstairs. Felicity sat at the table, with her computers out. “Hi.”

“Hey, bud.” She turned and smiled at him. “I’m, uh, sorry that you had to hear that this morning. Oliver and I…have some things to discuss. Which might get loud every now and then, because your dad is stubborn. I am too, if you were going to say that.”

“I…wasn’t.” He opened the fridge and dug around before finding the eggs. “Do you want food?”

“I’m good, thank you. I stress eat, and I stress ate a lot last night.” She patted her stomach. “This food baby needs to go away before I have anything else.”

“O-Okay.” He pulled out cheese and a few vegetables. One thing he could cook since he was little because his mom taught him. She convinced him that the veggies were good in it, and that’s the only way he ate vegetables. Now they tasted pretty good in other stuff, but he liked making omelets and thinking of Mom. Today it made him feel worse.

He got halfway through before he turned the stove off and dumped the eggs into the garbage. Felicity noticed, and furrowed her eyebrows. “What are you wasting eggs for? Were those bad?”

“I don’t want them.”

“Okay, but you didn’t need to—”

“I don’t want an omelet!”

She pulled back. William bit his lip and muttered, “Sorry.” He packed all the ingredients into a bag for another time and shoved everything back into the fridge. “I’m gonna go upstairs and play with my Perplexus Balls.” He got halfway out of the kitchen before Felicity moved at lightning pace and caught him. “I don’t want to talk right now.”

“I know. But is this…what’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

“I might not have motherly intuition, but I know when someone is lying.”

“I just don’t want to talk about it.” He got out of her hold on his arm and ran upstairs. He made it to the bed before he started crying. That turned to sobs, which ended up making enough noise that Felicity came in the room and sat down on the bed. She rubbed his back and talked to him, but it did nothing to help. She couldn’t bring his mom back, and neither could Oliver. “I miss Mom.” He hiccupped into Felicity’s arms. “I miss her so much.”

“I know you do, honey. I know.” Her voice cracked. “W-Would you like me to call Oliver?”

“He’s not gonna help.” It was the truth. He just needed his mom right now. Not his dad. Who he, if he was being honest, barely knew. He had more problems than he did. Both of his parents were dead. His grandparents. “I want Mom.”

“I’m sorry, William.”

“Sorry…” he hiccupped again, “sorry isn’t gonna bring her back.”

She wasn’t comfortable with this. He wasn’t gonna get mad at her, because she didn’t sign up for this. She wasn’t a mom yet; she didn’t know everything. But he was mad at everything else. Adrian. Oliver. Everybody and everything but Felicity. “Can you go out? Please?”

Her face fell.

“It’s not your fault. It really isn’t. I just…I want to be alone.”

She nodded, but didn’t move. “It’s not good to be alone. Trust me; I know.”

“But right now I don’t want anyone in here.” So he could curl up underneath the blankets and scream. That’s what he needed to do. Scream. A lot. He hadn’t tried that yet. Or a punching bag. Maybe he could ask them tonight at dinner if they could buy him a boxing bag. Oliver would know how to box; he could help him with that.

He stayed up in his room for the day. Felicity asked him if he wanted lunch, but he told her no. He wasn’t hungry. Neither was he hungry for dinner, but when he heard the door open and Oliver started talking, he went downstairs. Their voices stopped, and his dad walked towards him. “Hey, buddy. I heard today wasn’t so great.”

“I guess so.”

Oliver and Felicity exchanged looks before he focused his attention on him again. “Would you like to watch a movie?”

“Watching a movie isn’t going to help.”

Felicity came around the counter, drying her hands on a towel. “Are you sure? It might be just nice—”

“I said I don’t want to!”

“Hey!” Oliver’s voice rose. “Do _not_ talk to her like that. I get you had a bad day, but it doesn’t mean you get to be a jerk to her. Understand?”

William stared at him, unsure of what to say. He hadn’t been yelled at. In fact, Oliver never raised his voice with him. He always stayed calm, but now…he needed to say sorry, because yelling at Felicity wasn’t a good choice. But he didn’t want to say anything. Just ‘I’m going upstairs’. He wasn’t hungry anyways.

“William—”

“Leave me alone!” He had a head start, so he got up to his bedroom and locked the door before Oliver got up there. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

“I know, but—”

“That means no!” The tears started again. “I just want to be alone.”

Silence. But no footsteps signaling Oliver left. William flopped on his bed and closed his eyes. Maybe he could go to sleep. That would stop this terrible day. He hadn’t had one like this since the first two weeks after Mom died. He didn’t remember how he dealt with it the last time. Probably sobbed a lot. But right now he just wanted everything to stop. To go back to normal. Was it too much to ask?

“I have a lot of bad days.”

 _Great_. Maybe he should tell Oliver that sometimes parents just needed to shut up.

“This morning was one of them. The events of last night triggered a few things and it wasn’t pretty.”

“Is that…” he coughed to clear his throat. “Is that why you and Felicity are fighting?”

“That and other reasons.”

Maybe he’d feel better if he got immersed in why his dad and his girlfriend were fighting. When he asked, Oliver let out a humorless laugh.

“You don’t need or get to hear about our fights. A relationship is hard. Especially when I’m one of the people in it. Point is, bud, you don’t have to be alone in all of this. I know it’s easier to do that and it feels better, but in the long run, it’s much worse. It helps to not lock yourself in your room. I would know.”

That was interesting. “Do you lock yourself in your room?”

“The lair. I’ve locked myself in there a lot. A few times recently.”

It was almost funny to imagine, his dad locking all the doors and yelling, “You can’t come in!” But reality set in. Oliver wanted him to unlock the door. Also wanted to talk to him. Face-to-face. It would lead to more tears. “You’re not coming in.”

Oliver sighed. “William…”

“Unless my mom shows up, I don’t want to come out and I don’t want anyone in here either. Please…just go away.”

This time, footsteps signaled Oliver left. William grabbed one of his Perplexus ball and flipped his music on. It reminded him of Mom, so he turned it off. After a few minutes, he set his ball down and turned his tablet on. The games kept him focused on just that before fighting began. Did they know they were being loud?

“—your fault.”

“It’s not. If anyone deserves blame, it’s Adrian for setting off that bomb!” Oliver sprinkled in a few other adjectives. So they were fighting over him. Maybe he should go downstairs and tell them that it was fine.

But this was interesting.

“I’m not talking about that. William’s taking after you, and not in the” her voice became muffled. William cracked the door open and scooted out into the hallway. “He’s shutting himself off.”

“What am I supposed to do about it? There’s…I have enough problems myself.”

“Are you admitting I’m right?”

“I never said you’re wrong. Just that you’re wrong about doing something about it.”

“It’s either that or you continue going through life one PTSD-episode after another.” Her words got muffled again. They were going out to the deck. William crept into their room and cracked the window open. It was an even better seat to the fight. He lay down on the bed and pulled the covers up over him.

“It doesn’t happen that much.”

“Maybe. But what about when it does? What if we’re in the grocery store one day? Or at the hospital birthing a baby?”

Why was she mentioning a baby?

“You’re a ticking time bomb and William’s becoming one too.”

“What do you want me to do about it?”

“I told you. Go to a counselor.”

Oliver swore. So he didn’t go to a counselor. He should. If anyone should go, it’d be him. How many awful things happened to him? Mom would talk about soldiers and how they were affected for the rest of their lives. Oliver was kinda like a solider. And soldiers went to counseling, didn’t they? Why didn’t he?

They were coming in. William jerked up and shut the window. He got to the door, but they were already up the stairs. The bed. They told him he could sleep in here if he wanted to. He carefully got back in and lay sprawled out. When the door creaked open, he closed his eyes.

The light flipped on and then a whispered, “Felicity!” Then the lights went off.

“Oh. Poor thing.” Felicity sat on the bed. “He’s been crying. But don’t think your son’s cuteness lets you off the hook. We’re continuing this.”

“Maybe, but my mind is made up. I’m not going to anyone. I’ve dealt with it this long without some psycho man or woman meddling with my head.”

“I don’t give up easily.”

Oliver sighed. “Just drop it, Felicity. I’ll sleep with him tonight. William’s bed is comfortable. I’ll have my phone on.”

There was no words for a minute or two. Just rustling as they got ready for bed. Felicity said a curt goodnight and left. Oliver seemed to change from his Mayoral clothes to something more comfortable. When he pulled his shirt off, William opened his eyes to sneak a peek at why Oliver never took his shirt off in front of him. There was a tattoo. A tattoo! Maybe that was why? Or maybe it was a brand. Why would the Green Arrow have an arrow tattoo? That would be obvious.

Oliver glanced over at him. William shut his eyes. Crap. If he got caught, he’d get yelled at again. Two times in a night wouldn’t be good.

“I know you’re awake.”

 _Crap_.

“Did you seriously think that I don’t know when someone’s faking sleep?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve done much worse.”

Like get a tattoo. Unless it was a brand. William lifted his head. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“It’s okay.” He tossed back the covers and slid in. “I was headed for the couch anyways. This is more comfortable.”

William got underneath the sheets and rolled to his stomach. Apparently it wasn’t a good way to sleep but he didn’t care right now. Oliver wanted to talk. Clearly. “Goodnight, Oliver.”

“Uhh, goodnight.” He rolled over and grabbed his phone. William closed his eyes and imagined a swing set. Mom was pushing him on the swing, laughing as William dragged his toes on the dirt, trying to stop himself. Oliver sat on the other swing, Felicity on his lap. That’s how it should’ve been. Mom and Dad in his life with Felicity. Instead there was just Dad and Felicity. Mom died in a fiery explosion.

He slept fitfully that night. Three times he woke up from a bad dream and once he woke up because Oliver was speaking in a difference language. It was scary. He scooted further away and pulled the covers over his head. That stopped most of it, and a few minutes later, he stopped talking.

When he woke up at eight from a nightmare, Oliver was gone. William kept the covers over his head so he could let out a quiet scream. He needed that. And a punching bag. Why didn’t they have any work-out equipment here? Maybe pushups would help.

He tossed the covers back and slid out of bed. He knew how to do these. Probably not as good as Oliver. He got ten done before he started breathing hard. This worked. No wonder Oliver worked out all the time.

The door flew open.

William dropped the rest of the way. “Hi.”

Felicity stood above him, hands on her hips. “What on earth are you doing?”

“Push-ups.”

“Of course. I know you’re doing push-ups. Oliver does them all the time.”

“That’s the point. Oliver does them.”

“Honey…” she sank to the bed. “What do you know about Oliver’s workouts?”

“He works out when he’s grumpy. That’s what Aunt Thea said.”

She laughed. “Okay, maybe that’s partly true. But,” she drew her legs up onto the bed so she sat with them criss-crossed. “Oliver’s the Green Arrow, and staying in shape is vital. He’s also determined to make me swoon every time that I’m within a mile of him while he’s working out.”

Another thing he didn’t want to know.

“In the past, when Oliver worked out, the team just knew he was having a bad day. He stayed on the salmon ladder for hours, and then he beat up the dummy, and then he’d challenge Dig to a wrestling match. It was great for me but he always did it because working out gave him something else to focus on.”

“And being the Green Arrow?”

“A want to help people but also a way to keep the demons away. And I’m not going to let you do that.”

“Do what?”

“Do push-ups to shut your head up.”

He raised his chin. “It works better than just sitting here.”

“It’s a drug.”

“Huh?”

“Working out is a drug.” She said it like it was the simplest, most obvious thing in the world. “You like the high it gives you, and dear God, I hope your mom taught you about drugs, and soon you become an addict. Just like all of those terrible drugs that hopefully you don’t know about yet, it becomes a way to shut everything off, and eventually, it stops working. And you end up like your dad.”

After hearing the argument last night, he caught the hidden dig at Oliver. “I don’t…I don’t know what to do.”

“It’s hard.” She smiled at him. “I can tell you that it gets better. The key is to become okay with being broken and a little damaged. Then you don’t have to shut those thoughts up anymore by working out or whatever. Oh, I hope that Oliver’s listening right now.” She stood up. “C’mon. You can help me make some breakfast. My cooking will get your mind off everything.”

They spent three hours in the kitchen. Preparing breakfast, waving the fire alarms off, and cleaning up. William helped her with laundry, and then they continued to work on his school. He needed to get it all turned in by the end of August so he could start school on time. It didn’t take his mind off anything though. Sometimes Felicity would laugh as she explained a problem and it would remind him of Mom. Nothing could get him away from it.

At five, the door opened and Oliver came in. “Hi guys.” He didn’t kiss Felicity tonight. Not shocking considering their fight last night. That they would never know that he heard. Though he did intend to ask Oliver about why he didn’t go to a counselor. It didn’t make sense. At all. Maybe he had a good reason. Dinner was quiet. Too quiet, because he was thinking too much again. Why did this start now? He’d been fine for a while.

Finally, he cleared his throat. “How was work?”

“Okay. Just the normal things. How was your day here?”

“Felicity and I made breakfast together.”

“You did?” Oliver raised one eyebrow at Felicity, who shot him a look. “How’d it go?”

“We set the fire alarms off.”

“In our defense, the fire alarms in here are finicky.”

The rest of the night went like that. Barely-there discussions that didn’t matter. When he went to bed at nine, Oliver and Felicity fought in the living room. He only half-attempted to hear this one, but the word ‘counseling’ and ‘PTSD’ came up sometimes. At one point, a door slammed. The next morning, after waking up screaming, he told Felicity he was fine, did push-ups, and went downstairs. A pillow and blanket lay on the couch.

That night went the same way.

And the next.

Each day, William did his push-ups, adding in sit-ups and a few other exercises he did in gym class. For a few minutes, he didn’t think about Mom, or Oliver, or whatever else was going on. It helped. A little. When the weekend came, Oliver knocked on William’s door at way too early in the morning. “Hey, bud. Wanna go running with me?”

That he would get out of bed for. William jumped up, tossed his work-out clothes on, and ran out the door. “I’m ready!”

“Shhh.” Oliver held his finger to his lips. “Felicity’s still sleeping.”

“Sorry.” He crept down the stairs and out the door. “Is this because you and her are fighting?”

“We aren’t fighting if I’m not around. Plus, it’ll help for her to have a few hours to herself.”

And give him some time to ask some questions. After they ran for a few minutes, William voiced the first question. “How often do you go to the lair?”

“Way more than I want to.”

“Sure, but…how often?”

Oliver gave him the side-eye. “Almost every day.”

“What? When?”

“Sometimes during my lunch break. Or before I come home. Felicity and I usually go there at night. Good enough answer?”

“Yeah.” Crap, he was getting out of breath too quick. “Why didn’t you tell me…that you go out at night?”

“Because you’re young.” Oliver shrugged. Why wasn’t he even out of breath? Could he do this all day? “What we do is a dirty job. There’s a lot of horrible things that go along with it. And I don’t want you involved in that. At least involved any more than you already are.”

This seemed to be like a good time to bring up the biggest question. The one he almost asked him several times at the dinner table, just to see how he and Felicity would react and respond. “Oliver?” He took a deep breath. More so that he could get a full sentence out than because he was nervous. “Why won’t you go to counseling?”

Oliver stumbled. After a few seconds, he slowed down and then stopped. “How…what…” he heaved in a deep breath before sending him a glare. “Have you been listening in on conversations?”

“It’s hard not to, considering that you and Felicity are louder than some of those explosions on Lian Yu.” He raised his head. “I’ve heard most things the past week.”

His dad swore and turned away from him. _Crap_. This wouldn’t trigger something, would it? If it did, he didn’t know what to do. The research hadn’t told him that. Only that words, sounds, and experiences would bring back memories of bad things that happened. Sometimes it was good things, but in Oliver’s case, they were sad. Or terrible. Dealing with the issues could be helped by talking to a counselor or therapist. But his dad seemed to be—according to Felicity—too stubborn and scared to go to one.

“I don’t think you would understand, William.” Oliver’s voice was quiet. Too soft. “It’s kind of an adult thing.”

“I just wanna know why you won’t go to one. Because it doesn’t seem too bad to me.” 

“It’s not…bad. It’s just that someone like that can’t help me.”

“You called them psychos.”

“For me, they are. For some people, they’re great. They just can’t help me.”

“Have you ever…tried?”

Oliver’s face darkened. William raised his chin higher and looked him in the eyes. He could get this to work. After almost a week of hearing them fight, he wanted to help in some way. And, technically, two against one worked better than one against one. “I think you should listen to Felicity.”

“And I think that you don’t need to worry about it.”

“I like my sleep. And you guys have kept me up a lot lately.”

“I heard you also like working out.”

William shrugged. “Just in the morning to get my blood going.” That’s what guys said.

“After your nightmares.”

“What difference does it make?” Now he was going to get a lecture. _I shoulda stayed in bed_. “It’s just ten minutes at the most.”

“And it feels good, doesn’t it?”

“Shouldn’t it?” He wasn’t going to get the sweet Felicity lecture this time. He was going to get the ‘I’m your father and I’m going to tell you to quit it’ kind of lecture. At least that’s what he assumed dads did. The lady of the family said things kindly and the guy of the family didn’t give a crap. That’s what his friends said.

“It should, but it shouldn’t be done to take your nightmares away. Not until you can lay in bed and take them away yourself. Then that’s when you can work out.”

“That makes no sense.”

“It will.”

“Is that your version of being the dad and not giving a crap how you put your wording?”

Oliver’s eyes widened. “What?”

Oh, he was going to get in so much trouble for saying this. “My friends always said that the female of the family always tried to put things nicely and the guy, which is usually the dad, didn’t care and phrased things not so nicely. Felicity told me the same thing, but nicer, and you just…did that.”

“Well, if you want the ‘no crap’ version, it’s that I don’t want you to end up like me.”

“I can avoid that by going to counseling.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“I think it is.” If they didn’t stop soon, there would be a fight almost as big as the fights had been the past few days. “I’m going back to the house now.” Oliver’s face fell. “I don’t want to run right now. You’re better at it than I am, and plus, I didn’t have a good night’s sleep.” Before he said anything else, he turned around and started back. Why did that happen? He’d been here for three months and they hadn’t gotten into a fight like that. Or even a scuffle. Maybe he shouldn’t have asked those questions.

When he got back, Felicity sat on the couch. “Why are you back so soon?” When he didn’t answer, she set her mug down and stood up. “Where’s Oliver?”

“I decided I didn’t want to run, so I came back.”

“Ah. I see. Just as much as I see that you’re definitely hiding a few things from me. You should know that I’m good at getting information out of people.” Her wink made him smile. And then almost start crying. He went over to her and gave her a hug.

“I’m sorry, Felicity. I just asked him a few questions, and then he got mad, and I said a few things.”

“Hey, it’s okay. It happens. Especially with Oliver.” She pulled away and kissed him on the forehead. Another thing that reminded him of Mom. “We’re gonna get this all figured out. Then we’ll go out to dinner or something. Why don’t you go up and shower?”

“Are you and Oliver gonna fight again?”

“No. I’m going to compromise. And actually shower this time. Don’t eavesdrop.”

 

The next two days went by slowly. More bad dreams. More push-ups, though he made a rule that he had to lay in bed for five minutes after waking up before he could do any workouts. He and Felicity continued to work on school. They were almost done, and then he could put this school year behind him. The afternoon he finished, Felicity took him out for ice cream. As they ate their treat on a park bench, she cast him a look. _Uh oh_. “What?”

“I’d like to talk to you about something.”

“Am I in trouble?” Maybe this was a delayed announcement of ‘we’re sending you to boarding school’. Which he would throw a fit about. If she thought he’d been bad recently…

“Nope. This is a conversation that should involve your father, but he wanted me to talk to you. Chicken.” The last word was muttered. “We’ve been discussing some things that have been happening. Recently and not so recently. And we decided that the best option for you is for you to start seeing a counselor.”

“Oh.” That wasn’t what he came up with in his head. More like ‘we’re fighting too much and you need to go away for a bit’. Or ‘you’re causing us to fight so we’re building you your own house’. The last one he could blame on being over-reactive and feeling bad for what he told his dad a few days ago. “That’s what we’re talking about?”

Her brow furrowed. “Yes. That’s what we’re discussing. We feel like you need something like that to help you through what you saw and what happened to you. Counseling will help with that.”

William leaned back and closed his eyes. Felicity kept talking about how it would be uncomfortable at first, but it would help his nightmares, and some of the sadness. He didn’t mind. He actually would like it, but he knew someone who wouldn’t. His dad clearly been involved in this decision. Maybe he thought that him speaking would seem hypocritical. But he could play this to his favor. And Felicity’s. She gave up on the idea of making Oliver go to counseling, but he could make him.

“So.” Felicity looked nervous. “What do you say?”

“I’d be okay with that.” _Here goes_. “But there’s one thing that I’d like to happen for me to do it.” When she spread her hands out, he smiled. “I want my dad to come with me.”

Felicity’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh?”

“Yeah. I’m not going unless he comes with me.”

She let out a laugh and leaned back on the bench. She laughed again and glanced over at him. “You are quite the kid. And I mean that in a really good way. But I don’t know if he’ll agree to that.”

“I know, but I’m not going without him.” And not because he was scared; he liked old ladies who knew a lot of things that could make him better. But because Oliver needed it more than he even did. “And you can tell him that I got my stubbornness from him so he can assume that I’m staying firm on my point.”

She smiled. “I’ll tell him that, but I can’t guarantee that you won’t hear fighting again tonight.”

 

They did fight—he assumed they did, because they sent Thea to watch him and left for the lair when Oliver got home from work. He was happy to not hear it this time. He did as much as he could, and he would have to hope that Felicity could do the rest. Plus, he was really tired of hearing swear words. Thea put him to bed at nine thirty. He turned on a TV show on his tablet and closed his eyes.

At some point, the door opened. William lifted his head. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Oliver shut the door and walked to the bed. “Felicity and I talked.”

“I’m sorry that I caused a fight.”

He chuckled. “It was a long time coming. This fight would’ve happened whether or not you were here. Though it would’ve gone on a lot longer if you weren’t.”

That made him feel better.

Oliver took a deep breath. “And Felicity wouldn’t have gotten her way, but it turns out that I’m now outnumbered in the family. Which means that you and I are both going to counseling.”

“ _Really_?” William bounced up onto his knees, jarring Oliver. “You’re going to come with?”

“I am.” His dad rubbed his hands together and shifted. He was nervous. Really nervous. “I can’t guarantee it’s going to be pretty, because this is something that I’ve avoided for the past ten years. And we’re going to have to find someone we can trust more than anyone else, because he or she is going to hear about me being the Arrow.”

William shut out the ‘blah, blah, blah’ stuff that didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that his dad was going to counseling with him. Or whatever they would do. He and Felicity got their way, though she probably tried a lot longer than he did. As his dad continued to talk, he scooted up towards him and gave him a hug. “Thank you, Oliver.”

He chuckled and wrapped his arms around him. It felt good to have a hug. It wasn’t his mom, but his dad was a good hugger. He made him feel safe. And loved. “I’m glad you’re coming with me, because I don’t like doing things alone." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!!! Leave a comment and/or kudos if you liked it! I hope to have another chapter up soon. :)
> 
> Also, if anyone has tried contacting me on Tumblr in any way: I can't get in for some reason on my computer and on my phone. I'm hoping I can get on it soon, but just so people know!


	9. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver, Felicity, and William have to consider what happy memories mean to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it's been so long....but here's a new chapter! Enjoy!

Counseling happened four times a week. Oliver came along to three of them, but sent William in by himself for the fourth one. He learned a lot about his dad during their hour with the woman named Sandy. How he looked up at the ceiling when he was trying to rein in his emotions. How he would clam up several times while talking, and had to be coaxed out of it which sometimes took a really long time. William didn’t care how Oliver acted. It was less scary with his dad there, and it helped knowing that every word Sandy said, it helped them both. Not just him.

The second week, Sandy leaned back in her chair. “I have a question for both of you. What is the worst memory you have?”

It wasn’t too hard for him. “When Mom died.” He glanced at Oliver, who stared straight ahead. Could he even pick?

“I think it was when my dad died.” After telling them how Robert Queen died, he didn’t refer to his death as what it was. Today, he tilted his head to the side and said, “Committed suicide.”

“Good. Now what was your favorite?”

That he had to think about, but a memory came to mind that could suffice. “My tenth birthday. That was my favorite memory. Mom and I went to the fair, and I made her get in the dunking booth with the promise that I wasn’t gonna knock her in. But I did. She was really mad for a few minutes, but then she started laughing. It was the best thing I ever saw.” _Uh_ _oh_. He was going to cry. “That’s it.”

Oliver said his best memory was probably with Felicity. How shocking. But William didn’t feel like doing this anymore. The memory of them at the fair made him want to cry. When Sandy called his name, he raised his head. “Huh?”

She let out a laugh. “You and your dad have very similar ticks. But right now I want to ask you something. Particularly William, but this is for you too, Oliver. When you think of that favorite memory, or any good memory, what do you feel?”

“Sad.” He shrugged. “Really sad. I don’t like thinking about Mom, because it makes me want to cry.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “I get it. But here’s the thing. Have you ever thought about why we have a memory?”

Never, because he wasn’t a philosopher. If that’s what they were called. He didn’t know; he was going into sixth grade for heaven’s sakes. William shook his head.

“We can remember a lot of terrible things that happened to us, and we can also remember all the good times. Those good memories are supposed to be good. Not sad. I know it’s hard, but honey,” she smiled at William, “You got eleven years with your mom. She gave you so many happy memories, and you need to keep those happy. It feels better to be sad over those happy times, but it would make your life a lot easier if you thought of those memories and be happy.”

 

On the way home, they stopped for ice cream, like they usually did. It was going to lead to them both becoming overweight and sick, but Oliver liked doing something afterwards. William wondered if it was more for himself than for him. It made him feel a little better. Today they just grabbed cones, an extra one for Felicity, and headed home. Oliver didn’t say anything on the way. Fine with him, given the fact that he had plenty of things to think about himself. Sandy wanted him to think of the memories with Mom as happy, not sad. It made sense. It was just a hard idea to believe.

When they came into the Loft, Felicity waved from the couch. “Hey, boys! Oooh!” She jumped up and ran to William. “Oh my gosh, I love you. In two _very_ different ways. Come on. We can eat out on the deck. I’m all finished up with my presentation for the Palmer Tech board.”

“Really? That’s great!” Oliver pulled her into a hug and kissed her. William started towards the deck. They could have their moment. He learned how to avoid these issues, and the best thing to do was to leave. He could congratulate her later. His ice cream was melting. After a couple minutes, they came out on the deck.

“Are you guys done kissing?”

“For now.” Felicity licked her ice cream. “This is delicious. We should do this more often. Though if we start doing that, I may need to work out more often. Five times a week is enough for this girl.”

They must do their working out down in the lair, because Felicity didn’t leave the Loft much. Someone was always with him. He felt bad about that, but when he asked her a couple days ago if he was keeping her from friends or something, she smiled and said, “Nope. I enjoy hanging out with you. You’re the more agreeable, younger, and cuter version of my boyfriend.” That was slightly disturbing.

Oliver finished off his cone. “At some point, Rene is going to discover how much ice cream I eat, and then he and Curtis will never let me hear the end of it.”

“That or they’ll buy you ice cream for your birthday for the rest of your life.”

“Considering I’m the one who told them to stop eating junk food, I think it’ll be the latter.”

“Oh.” Felicity puckered her lip, and then laughed. “Yeah, don’t tell anyone. Got that, William?”

“Got it.”

They settled into a comfortable silence. William watched his dad and Felicity. Oliver fiddled with her fingers a lot. Her ring finger, most notably. Maybe he didn’t even realize he did it. But he did, and one of these days, he was gonna take a picture for proof. Seemed like she should have a ring on her finger by now. Maybe that was what Oliver did every time he rubbed her fingers. Proposing.

He’d better get to be involved in that.

After Oliver came back outside with napkins, he cleared his throat. “I have an idea.”

“If it involves avocado ice cream, I’m going to automatically say no.”

“No.” Oliver chuckled. “I think we should move.”

 _What_?

Felicity squinted at him. “Are you okay? Did you hit your head in the kitchen?”

“My head is fine. In more ways than one. Which got me thinking.”

“The counseling got you thinking?”

Based on her voice, Felicity was regretting making Oliver go to counseling. William hid his smile and focused on the building nearest them. Better than focusing on them fighting again. They hadn’t in more than a week; they were almost due for one soon.

“Yeah. Sandy talked today about good and bad memories today, and it got me thinking. How many happy memories do we have here?”

“You mean all the kisses we’ve shared?”

“ _Gross_!”

“Oh!” Felicity nearly jumped out of her seat. “Sorry. I will do my best to not mention anything of the sort. But,” she turned her attention back to Oliver. “I don’t think it’s right to say that we haven’t had any happy memories here. Sure, there’s been some sucky moments, but this is our home.”

“That we got from my sister after she moved in with Laurel.”

He recognized that name. William jerked up. “Laurel? The one who kidnapped me? She’s Thea’s friend?”

“No, no.” Oliver shook his head while he cast a panicked look at Felicity. “It’s a…really long story. But the Laurel who Thea lived with and the one who kidnapped you are very different. You’ll learn about that when you’re a little older. But right now we’re discussing moving.”

That was a lot to think about. He didn’t want to imagine what Oliver could mean, so he put it away and looked past his dad to Felicity. “She doesn’t seem to like the idea very much.”

“It’s not that I don’t like the idea.” She paused and continued to stare out at the busy traffic bellow. Wasn’t very often that she didn’t have something to say.

“But?” William answered that one for Oliver.

“But no matter what we find, it won’t be like the house we bought in Ivy Town. That was our first home and…it couldn’t be any better than that.”

“You guys owned another home?”

“We did. Two years ago.” Oliver smiled. “We could always go back there.”

“We both know that couldn’t work. We tried that for a few months, and we ended up right here. Again.”

“Which is part of the reason I think we should move. We can start over. Officially. Plus, Thea would enjoy coming over more if she didn’t have to look at that…spot.”

“What spot?” William voiced his question, knowing he would be getting a ‘that’s a long story’ answer.

“Thea nearly died in the Loft a few years ago. In the living room.” So he did get an answer. Not a great one.

“What happened to her?”

Oliver took a deep breath. “A man was after me. His name was Ra’s a Gul.”

“That’s a really weird name.”

“It was. Anyways, he thought that he could go after Thea and get to me. So he, uh, tried to kill her.”

“Did it work?” When Oliver looked at him with a concerned look on his face, William corrected himself.

“I mean…did he get to you?”

“He did. That’s my weakness. If someone goes after my family, they’ve gotten to me. Whether I want it to or not.”

“Which is why Adrian kidnapped me. Right? He wanted to hurt you. And everyone else, but he mostly wanted to hurt you.”

“That’s…”

William smiled. “I know I’m right. I’ve been listening when you talked to Sandy.” Sometimes he didn’t, but the times he did he’d begun to figure Oliver out. He knew Russian, which would explain the crazy language he’d started speaking during his sleep. He also knew some Chinese and Japanese. He also knew at least seven different kinds of fighting. For some reason he told Sandy that. Some of the things he heard kind of disturbed him. How could a person go through all of that? No wonder he had nightmares. And how come no one ever forced him to go to a counselor before?

“It’s alright, Oliver. I get it. Are we going to continue discussing the new house?”

“We don’t have to.” Oliver squeezed Felicity’s hand. “But I’d like your permission to look at a few houses in the next couple weeks. You don’t have to come along, but if I find something I like I can—” he was silenced by a kiss. William watched this one. When she pulled away, Oliver chuckled. “So what does that mean?”

“That was mostly just a thank you for asking me. And also me saying that I’d gladly come to a few house showings. As long as you promise to come to my Palmer Tech presentation.”

“Are you saying that because you think that I’m not coming?”

“I was just saying…since the last time we did that it didn’t go so well.”

“The difference is that this time, I’ll be sitting and you’ll be standing and doing the speaking.” Oliver winked at William. “We’ll both be there.”

“I’m going to the presentation?”

“No, he’s not.”

“What do you mean he’s not?”

“Yeah, Felicity, I want to come.”

She blushed. “It’s just that…I don’t want you to see me mess up.”

“That’s stupid. I’ve seen Oliver cry multiple times. If I see you mess up, that’s fine. I don’t see any reason why I can’t go.”

Felicity burst into tears and ran to the bathroom. What did he say? It wasn’t anything too horrible, was it? He glanced at Oliver, who shrugged. “She’s a few days from her period. She’s always emotional at this time of month.”

“So I didn’t say something wrong?”

“No. You just said something touching, and so she started crying. Simple as that.”

“It doesn’t make any sense.”

Oliver let out a laugh and ruffled his hair. “Quicker you learn that women don’t make sense, the better. They’re a lot different from us men.”

His dad called him a man. William didn’t hide his smile. No one ever called him a man before.

“What are you smiling about?”

“Nothing.”

“While you smile about nothing, I’m going to check on Felicity.” He walked down the hall to the bathroom and knocked on the door. “Honey? You okay?”

“I’m f-fine.”

“You don’t sound fine.”  

“I’m okay.” The door opened and she stepped out into Oliver’s arms for another crying session.

He really didn’t understand girls. Women, actually. Did they get more confusing as they got older? How did Oliver deal with Felicity? She cried when she was close to her period, then she got angry quick during it. He still hadn’t figured out all her moods yet and the reasons why. It would take a lifetime.

“Hey, buddy?” Felicity approached him, still crying, but smiling. So he didn’t say something to make her sad. “I’m sorry if you thought I was upset. I’m not. More like really happy. When you said that, I got hit with a big force about how much I’m loved.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed. “It feels really nice, because there have been times that I haven’t felt that.”

“Maybe we should do family counseling.” The adults laughed, but William gave a shrug. “What? Maybe it would be helpful if we all went.”

“That would probably be a good idea.” Felicity’s arm curled around his shoulders. “Family counseling would be a very good idea, now that I think of it. Right now, though, we gotta go house shopping.”

“After tonight.”

“After tonight? Why?”

Oliver raised his phone in the air. “We gotta head to the bunker.”

“This early?”

“Apparently there’s been a development on Vigilante. Curtis’ words, not mine. William, you okay with being by yourself for a little bit? We won’t be long, and if it’ll take longer than an hour, we’ll send Thea over here.”

“I’m fine by myself. As long as I can watch TV.”

“Sure, but don’t think about watching anything bad, because I have everything both Disney blocked.” Oliver muttered the last sentence under his breath, “Though maybe I should block some of those movies too.”

Felicity doubled over with laughter. “Wait’ll the boys hear you say that.”

“They won’t be. Or _you’ll_ be sleeping on the couch. C’mon. Curtis has already sent me ten messages, and they’re all in caps.” He handed the phone to Felicity. “Can you text him back? Tell him his boss is getting annoyed.”

“He’s going to say that you’re not his boss. More like… _I’m_ his boss. Especially if I can get the company back.”

Oliver slipped his arm around her back. “You mean when?”

“When. Okay, let’s go. William, we’ll see you in a bit. Sure you’re okay by yourself?”

“I’ll be fine. Go.” They were out of the house in a minute, proving that Oliver really could change into his leather suit in a short amount of time when he was down in the lair. William flopped down onto the couch and turned the TV on. News, news and more news. Didn’t they have anything interesting on? He switched to Netflix and turned on a cooking show. Oliver watched this at night after nightmares. He told Sandy that the second day of their counseling when she asked how they dealt with nightmares. Then he admitted to working out while watching the show.

Halfway through an episode of MasterChef, the phone rang. He grabbed it off its charger and answered. “Hello?”

“Hi, William. This is Curtis Holt. I work with your parents. Crap. Your dad! I work with your dad. And Felicity.”

“Uh, hi.” Here he thought that Felicity talked crazy. “I’ve heard about you.”

“Good things I hope. Anyways, they wanted me to call and say that they’re gonna be late. Oliver’s out as the GA—I mean the Green Arrow!—and Felicity’s busy as Overwatch. They were wondering if you’d like one of us to come over until they get home.”

The knowledge that they were in danger right now didn’t sit well with his ice-cream-filled stomach. “Are they okay?”

“Oh, yeah, they’re fine. Just doing their normal business. Being in a little danger is normal.”

Not for him it wasn’t. “When will they be home?”

“I’m not sure. That’s why they wanted to know if you wanted someone to come over.”

“Uhhh…” He looked around the Loft. Being by himself didn’t freak him when he was little. It was after Malcolm Merlyn and Damien Darhk kidnapped him that he didn’t like being alone. Someone always needed to be around him, and today was no different. “I guess if someone was available—”

“Rene and I are on our way.”

That quick?

“Expect us there in ten minutes. Just sing at the top of your lungs until we get there.”

“Uh, why?”

“Felicity hasn’t taught you that yet?”

“No.”

“Pfft. Shame on her. Keep yourself occupied for a few minutes.”

“I’ll be fine.” He would have to ask Curtis about those comments when he got here. It was funny to imagine Felicity singing at the top of her lungs. Funnier imagining Oliver doing the same thing. He didn’t think about what they were doing right now until the door unlocked. “You have a _key_?”

“We all do.” Curtis, a very tall guy with a crazy afro, stepped in, followed by a really short guy. Who had the exact opposite style of hair. “Nice to meet you. At the, uh, funeral…I was in the hospital. So I, uh, didn’t get an opportunity to meet you.” He extended his hand. “I’m Curtis.”

He refused to show that the mention of Mom’s funeral made him sad. Not as sad as he was a couple weeks ago, though. He shook Curtis’ hand and then Rene’s. “Nice to meet you. And thanks for coming over.”

“It’s lonely by yourself. It’s lonely for us big guys.” Curtis clapped him on the shoulder. “Would you like to do anything? Rene brought a video game.”

“What’d you bring?” He didn’t get to play many video games. Besides the kid ones that were too easy.

“I don’t know if Oliver will approve.” Rene opened his bag and rummaged around. “He’s very protective, and we got a lecture about not letting you watch any movies over PG, and no swearing around you. So this is pushing the limits.” He pulled out Mario Kart and grinned. “Hopefully he’ll get over it.”

William laughed and grabbed the game out of Rene’s hands. “Yes! I’d love to play this. We played a lot of video games together when I was in Central City and…” Mom’s face flashed in his head. She sat on the couch while they sat on the floor, yelling about their characters. Whenever one of them won, she smiled and said ‘good job’. If only he knew everything back then. It would’ve been better that way. Why didn’t they tell him? He deserved to know.

“Hey, Will?”

“Huh?” He looked up at Curtis. “Sorry. I was just…thinking.”

“Ah. Felicity says you do a lot of that.”

“You take after your father.”

“But you’re a lot less annoying when you think.” Curtis put his arm around William’s shoulders and steered him towards the TV. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but your dad can be quite the grump.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“Good. Rene, you wanna put it in?”

“As long as you hook everything up.”

Curtis sat him down on the couch. “Stay there. We’ll take care of this.”

Sandy’s words echoed through his head. He needed to not be sad about that memory. Be a little annoyed, because she didn’t say he couldn’t do that, but he didn’t need to be sad. It ruined moments, like this one. He would have the opportunity to play video games with guys who were probably better at them than his dad was. And less tired. They were going to play a couple nights ago, but Oliver fell asleep on the couch by the time William got back with the game.

“Alright, Will. Is it okay if I call you Will?” When he nodded, Curtis continued. “Rene and I are professionals at this, so if you feel bad about yourself—”

William tuned out. He was going to whip their butts. They had no idea how good he was at this. He would run circles around them, but they could spend some time imagining that they knew what they were doing. If only Felicity was here to watch this showdown. The first game, he went easy and lost to Curtis, who gave him a hug afterwards. Rene got last, so he spent the next couple minutes muttering about how he hadn’t had time to play lately because of the custody hearing.

“Your daughter’s Zoe, right?”

“That’s correct. How’d you know?”

He read his dad’s text messages. Not that anyone else needed to know that. He didn’t read them all. But whenever he went to the Mayor’s office with him, he was in charge of reading the text messages to Oliver. Half of them made him laugh, because they were from Curtis or Thea, in all caps, screaming about something stupid. Most of his Aunt Thea’s went like this: _OLLIE WHERE ARE YOU YOU’RE LATE TO YOUR MEETING_. Rene texted Oliver a lot, about all sorts of stuff. Mostly about Zoe, who sounded sweet. “Oliver’s told me about you.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.”

“All good things. Let’s play again.” This time he wasn’t going to give them any mercy. Time to ‘lay down the hammer’ as Oliver said a few times when they teamed up against Felicity when they played board games. She usually won anyways. He sat cross-legged on the floor and focused on the screen. The guys sat on either side of him, and yelled more about the game than anyone else.

He won.

Two hours later, after several more games—all of which he won—and dinner, which Curtis burnt, Oliver and Felicity came home. They both looked tired, but nothing bad happened. Too bad, at least. They always tried too hard to be happy when terrible things happened. Today, they smiled at him and plopped down on the couch.

“I beat them every single time.”

“Not every single time!” Curtis jumped up. “Just…every single time other than that first one when you were going easy on us apparently.”

“I had to keep your hopes up.”

Oliver chuckled. “I’m glad you found them entertaining.”

“Yeah, cuz your dad just finds us bothersome.” Rene stood up as well and stretched. “Well, Hoss, we’re gonna head out. No need to pay us for babysitting.” He winked at William. “He was good. We’ll see you later, bud.”

“Thanks for taking care of him.” Felicity walked them to the door and whispered something that lasted over a minute. Maybe about the mission? When they left, she came back to the couch. “Oofta. My body hurts.”

“I thought you sit behind the computers.”

“Most of the time, but tonight I went out into the field.”

Why? Why was that necessary? William made a face. “You could’ve died.”

“It was necessary for me to be out there. So that I could keep Oliver safe. Long story.”

None of that made him feel any better.

“But…while I was being Overwatch—literally—I did some searching and found a few houses that we could look at.” She opened her tablet and showed them a picture. “How does this one look? Obviously, price is not a problem, but if I don’t get my job back, we’re only going to be living on your salary, and that’s not much. Considering that we need half of that money for Arrowing business.”

“So we’re buying a cheap house or…?”

“Use your head, hon. I’m finding some houses that aren’t high taxes.”

William studied the first house. Small, and girls would find it cute. But he found it…“That’s really ugly.”

“ _What_?”

“I have to agree with him.”

Felicity glared at Oliver, though William learned a while ago how to tell if she was actually mad. Right now she just was a little annoyed. “I think it’s cute.”

Just like he thought.

“But I got a few different options too. Surprisingly, there’s not as many houses up for sale as there have been. Don’t look at me like that. I’ve looked before. Every year, the amount of people wanting to leave has increased. This year, people are moving _here_.” She smiled at Oliver. “Thanks to you.”

“I don’t know if it’s thanks to me.”

“I think it is. So do the people.”

What had happened in Star City that made people want to leave?

Oliver chuckled and gestured to the tablet. “Let’s just keep looking at houses, Felicity.”

“Are you saying that to get me off of this topic?”

“I’m saying that because I want to see what other houses you found. Don’t you think, bud?”

“I’m curious too. Hopefully it looks better than the first house.”

“Hey!” She laughed, though, and stuck out her lower lip. “You boys are mean. But you’re both cute and I love you. So here’s the next house.”

At ten, William climbed into bed and grabbed a Perplexus Ball. Sometimes he was too riled up to go to bed, and tonight was one of those nights. They spent an hour looking at houses, and then playing video games. He won every time, but at least Felicity got second once. Only because Oliver let up at the end, but she didn’t need to know that. There would be no forgiveness this time if she found out.

They were coming upstairs now, talking in low voices about going out tonight. Normal people talked about dates. They talked about going out to save people’s lives. Which was crazy. Kinda stupid too. But he enjoyed it. Of course, it sucked he couldn’t tell anyone about it. It really wasn’t fair he couldn’t brag about any of it.

Oliver opened the door and peeked in. “Goodnight, William. I’ll see you in the morning.” He had the door halfway shut before he opened it again. “Did you get enough to eat for dinner?”

“I got plenty. Even if half of it was burnt.” He wrinkled his nose. “Curtis’ cooking is worse than Felicity’s.”

“I heard that!” She slipped underneath Oliver’s arm to get into the room. “Do you really think my cooking is bad?”

“Some of it is…questionable.”

Oliver let out a loud laugh that brought a ripple effect in the room. Felicity pursed her lips, but her shoulders shook with laughter. William looked between them several times, knowing there was another story that came with their laughing. “Did Felicity do something really bad in the kitchen sometime?”

“I’ve done so many terrible things in the kitchen. So many that Oliver decided to take up cooking. Right, hon?”

“That wasn’t the only reason. But…I didn’t want to starve or be poisoned, so there were a couple options. Cook, or die.” He grinned as he walked to the bed so he could plant a kiss on Felicity’s forehead. “Still wanna sleep in the same room tonight?”

“I’m leaning towards no, but if you promise to listen to me tonight when we’re doing our…arrowing business, I’ll forgive you.”

“I promise.” He patted William’s leg. “We’ll see you in the morning.”

“Will I?” Now that he knew they left at night, he tried to wake up early to figure out when they got home. Sometimes they were making breakfast when he came downstairs, but often he waited for at least an hour before they came in. It didn’t bother him to be home alone in the morning, but it did bother him when they came in looking like they’d been through a war. And for what? That’s what he didn’t get. The TV still talked about all the crime in Star City. Did it help? That’s what he wanted to know. If it did, fine, but he didn’t want his dad dead. Or Felicity.

“Hopefully so.” Oliver glanced at Felicity, who gave him a look. A very specific look that he saw her give him a whole bunch of times, but he still couldn’t figure out what she was telling him. Maybe to be positive? He had a problem with that sometimes. “We’ll see you in the morning. I promise.”

So it was to tell him to be positive. Now he knew. “Okay. Goodnight.”

 

He woke up with a nightmare, but it wasn’t so bad this time. When he didn’t hear anybody around, he got up, showered, because apparently his hair was getting greasy now, and went downstairs. Felicity sat at the table, typing, but his dad was nowhere in sight. “Where’s Oliver?”

“He went to the office.”

“Already?” The clock only read seven.

“Yeah.” She turned around and made a face at him. “They had an emergency meeting called about a guy who’s been roaming around the city. And emergency meeting meaning everyone who works there who’s involved in Team Arrow.”

“How many are there?”

“One cop, one Deputy Mayor, one Deputy Mayor’s assistant, and the Mayor’s assistant. Plus the Mayor. Of course.”

“That’s a lot of people.” He still hadn’t figured out how many people actually were in Team Arrow. Seemed like a lot. “Did you…go out last night?”

“Just for a little bit. But nothing happened. Don’t worry.” She smiled at him. “Would you like me to make you some breakfast?”

“Naw, I got it. Not because of your cooking. I just want to make an omelet today.” For his mom. She would want him to make one. “Do we have eggs and such?”

“For that, yes.” Her smile went from ‘good morning’ to a deep caring that he hadn’t gotten from anyone since Mom died. She stood up and walked to the counter, leaning against it. “Do you need any help? That’s a stupid question. But...what I’m trying to say is that if you ever need me, I’m here. To talk. Or whatever.”

“Thanks, Felicity.” He pulled out the ingredients for the omelet and got most of the ingredients up without a problem. He swiped the edge of his fingernail when he was cutting up the tomato, and flipped the first omelet off the stove, but the second one turned out perfect. He sat down and grabbed his phone. Oliver got text number 300: _Can I have a dog?_ Which was promptly answered with _I’m in a meeting and no_. Eventually he would break. Especially if Felicity got extra emotional sometime.

When he took the first bite of his omelet, tears filled his eyes. First, it was too hot, but second, Mom should be with him. _Good memories_. He forced himself to smile. Sandy was right. He had those good memories for a reason, and he could think about her every morning when he made himself breakfast. Not thinking about her was a stupid idea; she deserved to be thought about. But he couldn’t be sad all the time.

“Hey, William.” Felicity beckoned him over with her finger. “Come look at this house.”

“Is it cute?”

“Cute, but it looks like a nice place.”

He leaned against her chair and looked over her shoulder. “I like it.”

“I do too. It has three bedrooms, which would be nice. One for Oliver and me, one for you, and one for a, uh…”

“A baby?” That idea terrified him.

“Y-Yeah.”

“Can we go look at it?”

“I’ll see if we can schedule a tour tonight. That hopefully won’t be interrupted by business. Oh, and how’s counseling going? We haven’t gotten a chance to talk about it lately.”

William went back to his seat. “Sandy told us that we have good memories for a reason.”

“She has a good point.”

“And she said that we shouldn’t get so sad when we remember the good times. Which is why I made an omelet today.”

Felicity gave him a little smile, but her eyes filled with tears. For over a minute, she stared straight ahead, tears spilling down her cheeks. He stopped eating again and went over to her.

“Felicity?” He grabbed her hand. “Are you okay? Did I make you sad?”

“No, no, you’re fine.” She squeezed her eyes shut, which caused more tears to come down her face. “You just made me think of someone.”

“Who?”

“ _My_ dad, actually.” She looked up at his surprised face and let out a laugh. “Surprising, huh? I have a dad too. And he’s not in my life because…I really don’t know.” She wiped her free hand over her face and sniffed.

“Can’t you, uh, call him?” If she was crying about him, contacting him seemed like a good option. Another idea came to mind. A sadder one. “Is he dead?”

“He’s not dead. I don’t think so, at least. And I could contact him. I should. The past year has been really hard, and I guess I forgot to do that.” She took a deep breath and looked up at him with red eyes. “William…” she took a deep breath. “Be thankful for all those good memories you have with your mom. You have eleven years of them. Eight, really, cuz you can’t really remember anything under the age of three. Anyways, you can miss her and think of happy moments too.”

He could kind of figure out where this was going and it made him sad. “You don’t have any happy memories with your dad?”

“I do. But he left when I was seven. So not many. And he just…disappeared.”

At least he knew his mom was never coming back. “That’s really sad.”

“It is.” She still held onto his hand, and her grip was getting tighter by the second. “I should’ve contacted him sooner. I’m pretty old now, and I don’t have many happy moments with my dad. You’ve known Oliver for just a little bit and you already have more than I did with my dad.”

So his dad was better than her dad. He didn’t really know what to say. Shouldn’t Oliver be here to deal with this crying episode? He did say that Felicity was close to her period, so that made her emotional. He was just a kid with a lot of problems. But he held her hand and rubbed her shoulder awkwardly while she cried for a little bit more. _Please stop crying, Felicity. I don’t know what to do_.

After a few more minutes, she let go of his hand and straightened. “I’m sorry, William. I didn’t intend to start crying like that. But thank you.” She smiled up at him. “You good at this.”

“A-Are…are you going to call him?”

“I need to think about it, but I might. I don’t have a lot good memories to remember when he dies. Now go finish your omelet before I start crying again.”

Adults. William shook his head as he went back to his seat. Felicity stared at her computer for five minutes while he finished his omelet. She didn’t type anything in that time; just stared at it. He couldn’t figure out what she was staring at. Finally, she shut her computer, patted him on the shoulder, and went upstairs. The shower started.

More adult problems. Though he did lock himself in his room several times. So either kids had the same issues or he was getting to be an adult too.

He never saw pictures of Felicity and her dad. They had photos all over the house, but none of him. He really wanted to know what he looked like. And what Felicity looked like when she was little. William grabbed his phone and texted Oliver. _Do you have a picture of Felicity’s dad?_

Fifteen seconds later, the screen lit up with a call. “Hi Oliver.”

“Hi.” He hesitated. “What’s this about Felicity’s dad?”

Uh, oh. “She was crying about him this morning. After I told her about what Sandy said about the happy memories.”

Oliver muttered something inaudible under his breath, then released a long sigh. “Is she okay now?”

“She’s showering.”

“That’s never a good sign. What’d she say?”

“That she doesn’t have many happy memories with him. Sounds like she was maybe gonna contact him. But she did say she was going to think about it.” He could hear people in the background. “Are you still in a meeting?”

“Being the Mayor, I can get out of one if I need to. Thea’s covering it. Did she say anything else?”

“Not really. She just cried.”

“Okay. Hold on.” Oliver said something about Felicity to someone, then came back on the phone. “Why do you want to see a picture of Noah?”

“That’s him?”

“Yeah, that’s her dad. So…why?”

Why was he being questioned? “I just wanted to see what he looks like. And what Felicity looked like when she was little.”

“She was cute.”

Here went the lovey-dovey stuff. “Do you have a picture?”

“I don’t. But you could _cautiously_ ask Felicity about it. Just let her be for a little bit, though. Between you and me, it would help her if she called him. But, bud, I gotta go. Thea’s sending me ugly looks through the doors. I’ll see you tonight, okay?”

“Okay. Bye, Oliver.”

“Bye, William.”

He set his phone down and looked around the Loft. It would be fun to have a new house. He liked his room here, but it was small and it just didn’t feel right. Maybe one of the houses they would look at it would have the perfect bedroom. Then he could put up all of his pictures and the football, soccer ball, and basketball. Then it would be an awesome room.

There was three of them, though. Would they be able to find a house that they all agreed on? He looked up towards the second story. Poor Felicity. Her dad _left_ her. What kind of person would do that? Didn’t he love his daughter at all? At least his dad came to visit him soon after he found out about him. He still didn’t figure out why he stopped coming to visit, but he tried not to think about it.

At least he was here now. Going to counseling with him. And eventually, his dad would break and William would have a puppy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to admit, I haven't written much fanfic recently. I've been working on a novel, which hasn't left me much time for anything else. But I've had a rough couple days, and I decided that I needed some encouragement from all of my favorite people. So comments and kudos would be appreciated. :)
> 
> Next up is House Hunting!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!!! I'll post whenever I have a chapter done, so expect a few chapters quickly and then I'll try to span them out a bit. But I promise that the updates will get happier!!!


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